Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced on Feb. 22 that Ontario is providing Toronto with $114 million in funding through the Building Faster Fund after the city exceeded its 2023 housing target.
Last year, Toronto commenced the construction of 31,656 new housing units, exceeding their 2023 target by 51 per cent and unlocking an additional $38 million in investment.
“Toronto has shown it can get it done on housing and we are proud to reward them for their success,” Ford said.
“My challenge to Mayor (Olivia) Chow and to every mayor in Ontario is to get even more homes built in the coming years so we can make life more affordable and keep the dream of home ownership alive for families across the province. We’ll be there to support you every step of the way,” he said.
A recent report from StatCan said the onset of the pandemic triggered deteriorating housing affordability.
The report added higher unemployment and fewer job vacancies coupled with a surge in inflation throughout 2021 and 2022, have led to higher costs for essential goods and services.
As per the report, in the fall of 2022, approximately 44 per cent of Canadians expressed significant concerns about their household’s ability to afford housing or rent.
Moreover, the most frequently reported reason for homelessness was financial issues, accounting for 41.8 per cent of cases.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland announced $162 million in funding for Toronto to aid housing for asylum seekers and low-income people on Feb. 2.
The announcement highlights the collaborative effort to address the pressing housing needs in the city.
“More newcomers will have a safe and stable place to call home while they get settled in Canada,” Freeland said.
“This additional support is going to help the most vulnerable people pay their rent every month,” she said.
A spokesperson with the City of Toronto told Humber News the federal government announced a commitment of $143 million through the Interim Housing Assistance Program.
This is to reimburse costs incurred by the City of Toronto to provide emergency temporary accommodation to refugee claimant arrivals in 2023 and in the first quarter of 2024.
The Toronto Public Health (TPH) data reports that it received 79 reports of deaths among the unhoused population from January 2023 to June 2023.
The report said although this number is lower than the 92 deaths reported for the same period in 2022, it still surpasses pre-pandemic levels.
Mary Rose Sabater, communication advisor with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC), told Humber News that work towards a longer-term solution to meet the housing needs of asylum claimants is ongoing.
“IRCC has been working collaboratively with impacted provinces and municipalities to transfer asylum claimants requiring temporary accommodations from provincial shelters and churches to IRCC-funded hotels with available space,” Sabater said.
Data provided by the IRCC media relations team indicates that IRCC has more than 4,000 hotel rooms in six provinces as of Feb. 18. Among these, 2,499 rooms are located in 16 hotels in Ontario, designated to offer temporary housing to asylum claimants.
These accommodations are currently being provided temporarily, while IRCC has remaining hotel capacity until asylum claimants can transition into longer-term housing.
IRCC also noted that to ease the strain on the heavily burdened shelter system, the process of moving asylum seekers from shelters and churches in Ontario started on Sept. 8, 2023.
A total of 2,813 individuals have been relocated, with the distribution including 96 to Cornwall, 404 to Windsor, 746 to Mississauga, 1,475 to Niagara Falls, 66 to Kingston, and 26 to Ottawa as of Feb. 18, 2024.
“Responding to the needs of asylum claimants requires collaboration from all orders of government, and the Government of Canada remains committed to working with its partners to determine how we can best and most efficiently support them,” Sabater said.