Affordable Community Housing

Here is an article in the Friday, September 21, 2007, Greater Toronto, Social Services, Toronto Star, page A6, involving an interview with the head of Toronto's community housing corporation (TCHC):

Derek Ballantyne, the head of the Toronto Community Housing Corporation - you may think of him as the civil service landlord - sat on a park bench and talked about his job.

He knows me as an occasional critic. I know him to be a thoughtful guy.

But I also know that some of those in public housing live in dreadful conditions, and he's the boss. I referred to a recently notorious renter of St. James Town who kept pigions in his apartment; so many pigions, for so long, that the man's rooms were crusted with years of crap, and under the crust was a carpet of roaches.

No one from TCHC sought to gain entry and clean up, at least not until public health got involved; apparently, the right of Pigeon Man to privacy trumped the right of his neighbours to live in healthy surroundings. Or perhaps TCHC staff lacked the will or the initiative to get involved.

Ballantyne was abashed, and quickly to accept responsibility.

"The pigeon story was stupid management. Somebody should have figured it out quicker."

If Pigeon Man was a problem, he offered another: "There is an 84-year-old woman; we've worked with her for two years. She's a hoarder in the extreme. You could barely enter her unit. We spent two years trying to get her to understand that she had to get rid of her things. You couldn't walk in there. It was a health issue, a fire hazard.

"After two years, we moved to evict her. . .for the good of all. We'll rehouse her if she can manage her illness, but she hasn't acknowledged that she has an illness.

"You can say we're heartless SOBs, or you can say we did what we could."

Before I could choose, he added this kicker: "Were it not for the housing we provide, I don't know where a lot of people would live."

Fair point.

"I don't take pride in walking into some of our communities and seeing the state they're in. I get angry. You have to remember, we bring benefit to the city."

His critics pound him on the cost of those benefits; after all, his annual budget is half a billion dollars. "I don't believe there's a more efficient way," he said. "We've compared. We work on clim margins.

"What would be the cost if the support we provide was not there? We house people who earn low wages. Who benefits? The service industry.

The services industry?

He said if you subtract those with are retired, and those who are on disability, the majority of social housing tenants - some 70 per cent - work for a living, and the majority of those are employed in the service industry.

Think about that the next time you go to bankquest or hail a cab.

"European countries are coming to the notion that affordable housing is critical to a healthy society. I lose patience with people who criticize the system without thinking their way through. We have hotels, we have cabs, but what sort of conditions are the workers living in?

Whether conditions in TCHC are good or not, tenants do have some say in the management of their homes: the TCHC board consists of four city councillors, seven citizens and two tenants, and there are tenant reps in each building.

He is not opposed to having more tenants on the board.

He also said, proudly that tenants control 20 per cent of the annual budget, and are closly involved in deciding how much money is spent in their buildings.

A good system?

We'll hear from the tenants next week.

Joe Fiorito usually appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him by email at: jflorito@thestar.ca .