Ontario Municipal Social Services Association, Service Manager Housing Network and Ontario Association of Hostels
2006 Forum on Social Housing and Homelessness
Conference Theme Building Strong Foundations for Healthy Communities
Thursday, September 28, 2006
12:00 p.m.
CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY
Good afternoon everyone.
This is the third year in succession that I have been invited to your forum and that I have attended and let me say that it is a pleasure to join you here today.
I am pleased to see both housing, and shelter and hostel representatives in the same room.
In coming up with ways to improve the housing stability of lower income households, it is important that any silos are removed and issues are addressed in an integrated manner.
Congratulations to all of your organizations for putting on this type of conference. I hope to see more of them in the future.
The McGuinty government’s commitment to building stronger communities is closely linked to our pledge to ensure safe, decent and affordable housing in communities across Ontario.
We are on the side of Ontario’s most vulnerable.
And as your conference theme notes improving access to affordable and social housing is part and parcel of building strong foundations for a healthy community.
That’s why our government is committed to improving the availability, affordability and quality of housing across the province.
We are fulfilling this commitment through strategic investments in several programs.
This commitment could not be achieved without your efforts.
Part I: Service Managers' Accomplishments and Ministry Updates
Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program
One major area that I commend Service Managers’ efforts is the Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program.
In partnership with you and the federal government, we have made real progress in this program.
On August 31, 2005, the Governments of Ontario and Canada allocated $402 million to municipalities as a first step in funding under the 2005 Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program.
To date, more than 6,500 units have been built or are under construction.
This includes 5,440 rental and supportive units, 884 homeownership units and 200 northern units.
It is encouraging to witness the active development of affordable housing across the province after a hiatus of ten years.
We’re involved in funding affordable housing projects both large and small, ranging from the major redevelopment involving hundreds of units in Regent Park in downtown Toronto to the creation of 24 units in the town of Paris.
We’ve funded numerous projects in Waterloo Region, Peel Region and York Region. In Wellington, Grey and Oxford counties. There are projects in Ottawa, Kingston, Peterborough and London. And in many other communities across the province.
Although the progress has been good, I would like to see it accelerated.
To this end, I recently convened a meeting with a cross section of developers, Service Managers, and co-op/non profit groups to hear directly about their ideas for program improvements.
Much was gleaned from this meeting and where possible, we will endeavour to make changes to processes as we move forward.
Under our housing allowance program we have committed to fund 4,335 housing allowances in 41 municipalities. The program will also fund 500 units specifically for victims of domestic violence.
As many of you are aware, we were hoping for more rapid take up of housing allowances. I have heard loud and clear about your wish to have the five-year funding limit extended and for “in situ” tenants to be accepted under the program.
I brought the subject up with Canada’s Minister of Human Resources and Social Development, the Honourable Diane Finley, more recently at an August meeting in Ottawa.
At this time, there is no change to the Housing Allowance program and I would encourage you to redouble your efforts to use the money that has been allocated to you to help households in need in your respective communities.
Rent Banks
Ontario rent banks are another example of successful Service Manager participation.
All 47 Service Managers have supported the program from its very start.
In 2004, our government committed $10 million to the program and another $4 million this year to enhance assistance for eligible tenants.
Since 2004, the Provincial Rent Bank Program has become an important part of this government’s homelessness strategy, avoiding over 4,000 evictions across the province.
Our ministry plans to conduct an evaluation of this program in winter 2007.
And we will be looking to you for insightful input, as you know how best to respond to the diverse housing needs of your communities.
Residential Tenancies Act, 2006
Our strategy for affordable housing also includes improving Ontario’s rental housing system.
The Residential Tenancies Act, which was passed on June 22 of this year, will provide better protection to both tenants and landlords while keeping our rental housing market strong.
We want to bring back balance to the system.
For tenants, this means better maintained buildings, a fairer annual rent increase guideline and a new above guideline rent increase system for utilities and capital expenditures.
For landlords, this means continuing to exempt buildings constructed after 1991 from rent controls, allowing starting rents to be negotiated and creating a fast-track eviction process for those tenants who cause wilful or excessive damage.
As for social housing, the new Landlord and Tenant Board will not be permitted to adjudicate issues related to rent determination and eligibility for rent geared to income tenants.
Current exemptions for social housing will be retained and we intend to extend these exemptions for social housing rental units to all new affordable housing rental units/programs, including retrofit units.
Our aim in keeping the exemptions was to create consistency for social and affordable housing.
We will be announcing a proclamation date once the regulations for the act have been finalized.
I know ministry staff have consulted with Service Managers during this process and I would like to thank you for your valuable feedback.
Your participation in this process will ensure that the regulations are workable and deliver on our intent to improve Ontario’s rental housing system.
Part II: Moving Forward
Ontario Mortgage and Housing Initiative
I have some good news to report regarding the Ontario Mortgage and Housing Initiative.
Before I get to that, I want to talk about the forum I hosted in June on the development of the OMHI.
It was attended by a broad cross-section of stakeholders from the development industry, municipalities, non-profit and coop communities, financial institutions, and professional associations.
The forum was quite successful in fostering a dialogue on how these groups can work together to deliver more affordable housing for Ontarians in need.
This feedback is being used by the ministry in moving forward with the OMHI.
Now for the good news.
Our government is establishing a Roster of Qualified Lenders that will provide competitive construction financing and long-term mortgages to developers of affordable housing.
The Request for Proposals closed on August 11. We will be making an announcement in the coming weeks.
We are also establishing a Roster of Project Facilitators to improve access to professional services and expertise for affordable housing developers.
This Roster will include professionals — lawyers, architects, quantity surveyors, and others — with expertise in developing and managing affordable housing.
As well, the ministry will be launching an online resource centre.
Proponents have told us that they require one point of access to obtain all the information and tools they need for the Affordable Housing Program.
The centre will include educational materials about affordable housing, and Rosters of Project Facilitators and Approved Lenders.
The online resource centre will be up and running later this fall.
AHP – Wave 2
In addition to the OMHI initiative, Wave 2 is fast approaching.
We’re anticipating a fall announcement for the remaining 880 units.
Wave 2 allocations will reward strong performance in the Pilot and Strong Start rounds, and project readiness.
I believe that rewarding strong performance and readiness will ensure the efficient allocation of Wave 2 funding and expeditious construction of affordable housing that responds to communities’ housing needs.
Provincial-Municipal Fiscal and Service Delivery Review
At the August AMO conference in Ottawa, Premier McGuinty announced the Provincial-Municipal Fiscal and Service Delivery Review.
Our government will be working with municipalities on this wide-ranging review of how we can improve the delivery and funding of services for Ontarians.
Social housing will be part of the review.
Both AMO and the City of Toronto have accepted our invitation to participate.
Together, we will look at how Ontario’s communities can continue to prosper through better service delivery and improved infrastructure investment.
My colleague, the Minister of Finance, our officials and I are sitting down with the municipal sector to start to develop solutions that are workable, sustainable and affordable.
Our final product will be a consensus-based report that will be released in the spring of 2008.
Some have commented that it is a long time to wait for a report. Yet, experience has taught us that issues as large and complex as these do take time — if they’re going to be done right.
Social Housing Reform Act, 2006 – Review, Regulations, Special Priority Policy
Now to a topic that is probably of most interest to you – the Social Housing Reform Act.
I committed last year to an ongoing review of the regulations under Ontario’s Social Housing Reform Act.
We have completed two rounds of changes. We have now launched consultations for a third round that I would like to put in place by Spring 2007.
We will look at RGI administration and eligibility, governance and utility scales.
I thank you for the report from the Service Manager Housing Network. We will use it to inform our discussions on the third round of consultations.
All of our key players will be invited to the table for these discussions - service managers, AMO, CHF, ONPHA, ACTO and SHSC.
While these consultations are focussed on regulatory changes, we will keep an open mind about the scope as discussions progress, noting that there is the provincial-municipal fiscal and service delivery review taking place.
I am also pleased to report that the rollout of the benchmarks has been completed and we have completed the initial process for benchmark change requests.
By the end of this month, we hope to implement an amendment to simplify how market rent index is calculated under section 103, and provide the cost factors for RGI units under section 106 of the SHRA.
We know that both these measures are critical to enabling budget preparation for the next fiscal year. And we intend to give housing providers sufficient time to prepare their budgets.
In terms of the government’s special priority policy, it is now in the second stage of consultations.
Our ministry recently released a report to stakeholders with proposed options for changes to make the system better and more responsive.
We’re now consulting with all Service Managers and other key stakeholders, including domestic violence groups.
Once we’ve completed that process, we’ll develop recommendations for the government’s consideration this winter.
Tripartite Partnerships – Needing a Federal Partner
Partnerships have been the key to the success of many of our housing initiatives.
The Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing Program serves as a great example of what successful partnerships can do.
The AHP has moved so much more quickly once all three partners were fully participating.
In order to achieve the same success with social housing, we will need to continue this tripartite approach.
We need full and equal participation at all levels.
I have met with Minister Finley and my provincial and territorial counterparts about maintaining funding levels for social housing programs beyond expiry of operating agreements and repayment of mortgages and debentures.
My ministry has estimated that by year 2010 the accumulated federal legacy savings will amount to $58.5 million.
It is critical that these savings be invested in capital repair of social housing stock.
I will continue to voice our position with Minister Finley on this issue to ensure all good works done to date remain that way, today and in the future.
Concluding Remarks
In closing, the McGuinty government is committed to improving the lives of Ontarians.
We have made significant progress in the area of housing on behalf of the residents of this province. Thanks in large part to this group sitting here today.
We want to see all Ontarians prosper and flourish and that means sometimes doing the heavy lifting on behalf of our more vulnerable.
Such efforts will build stronger communities who offer their residents a range of housing choices.
Stronger communities add up to a stronger Ontario. And that’s something we can all take pride in.
My thanks again for inviting me here today and our government looks forward to continuing our work together.
