City Moves to Sell-Off Toronto Community Housing

06/14/2011 - Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
http://ocap.ca/node/958

FORD WILL DESTROY PUBLIC HOUSING UNLESS WE STOP HIM!

The Ford Regime in City Hall is moving to step up its attacks on poor and working people at top speed. One key part of this is the attack on the people who live in Toronto Community Housing (TCH). Today, Council will vote to sell off 22 single family homes.

This comes at a time when the need for affordable and accessible housing is greater than ever. Over 70 000 households in the City of Toronto are on the waiting list for TCH – that list is at most times 10 years long. Tenant protection has long ago been eroded under Harris and poor people are routinely exploited by private landlords. Today’s average private one bedroom apartment costs $1000/month in the City of Toronto – far out of reach for any person trying to survive on minimum wage, welfare or disability supports.

Ford told the media last week that in addition to the 22 homes today, he would like to sell all of the 928 single family homes it presently owns. With typical arrogance, the Mayor went so far as to suggest that the money raised would most likely not even be used to deal with some of the hundreds of millions of dollars worth of repairs that are desperately needed in TCH communities across the city.

Left to his own devices, Ford and his friends will move to sell off more, privatize everything and hand TCH communities over to developers and private landlords. With tens of thousands on the waiting list, thousands on the streets and in the shelter system - no housing can be sold. In fact, the need to repair current housing and create and build NEW HOUSING is much much more.

Right now, private consultants are combing through all of our city public services with the goal to make major cuts. In September Ford’s austerity budget priorities will be set – this will see cuts to the tune of $800 million in public spending and from what we can see so far, housing, shelters, transit, childcare, community centres, are all on the chopping block.

Ford’s brutal cutbacks will not be stopped with polite appeals and phone calls to Council members. Ford and those backing him have to face the anger of those whose communities they are threatening. We need to organize neighborhood by neighborhood to confront their agenda and build a city-wide movement large and strong enough to stop them and to begin to take back ground. If you want to be part of such a movement please contact us right away.

STOP THE FORD CUTS!
INCREASE CITY SERVICES FOR ALL!
STOP HAND OUTS to COPS and CORPORATIONS!

Ontario Coalition Against Poverty
www.ocap.ca
416-925-6939