John
Tory plan would put homeless “Under a New Roof”
By
Marsha Seca
Toronto
mayoral candidate John Tory announced last week (September 15) that he
will fix the homelessness crisis in Toronto and ban panhandling with his
“Under a New Roof” action plan.
“The time has come for us to really get something done on homelessness,” John Tory said at a news conference in front of Yonge-Dundas Square. “The biggest homelessness problem is not the lack of a law to scoop the homeless up – it is the lack of effective action and especially the lack of appropriate facilities, which will help the homeless break the cycle they are in.”
John
Tory’s “Under a New Roof” action plan will establish 1,000 new
supportive housing units within a year of taking office, 500 within 6
months, to get long-term residents of emergency shelters and street
homeless into supportive housing. Mr.
Tory will also build 1,000 new affordable housing units per year for the
next three years in order to provide permanent homes for people who resort
to living in shelters on a permanent and/or temporary basis.
As
a result, Mr. Tory will restructure the shelter system to provide better,
customized service more suited to the needs of the individuals involved.
This includes a moratorium on building emergency shelter beds and
reallocating monies toward supportive and affordable housing. This will be
accomplished by cutting red tape, offering up city land, reducing
development fees, offering property tax abatement and providing other
incentives to private developers to include affordable units within their
developments.
In
addition, “Under a New Roof” will ban panhandling in the downtown core
– the area bounded by Bloor-Davenport, Parliament, Bathurst and the
Lake. Panhandling within that area would be subject to heavy fines. The
courts have made clear that there is no constitutional right to panhandle.
Tory
will also be a tireless advocate with the federal and provincial
governments to ensure they play their role in building the thousands more
affordable and supportive housing units that are needed on top of those
established by the City itself through its own initiatives listed above.
He will also continue to press Queen’s Park to make good on its promise
to introduce a portable shelter subsidy for the working poor.
.
