Afraid to do good
A conversation with a senior civil servant some years ago made a lasting impression on me.
He said, “I see myself as a risk manager.” He knew that politicians of every political stripe were waiting to pounce on procedural errors for political gain. “It doesn’t matter how innovative a project is” he said, “or how brilliant its success. If they find one picky error in the procurement process, my department is on the line.”
His strategy was to hunker down, protect his core programs, and do nothing more. And I thought: “Is there a greater waste of public money than this: to pay for a civil service that is afraid to do good?
I thought of this conversation afresh when I saw the terms of reference for the LeSage Review requested by Toronto Community Housing’s board of directors. Read more…
Towards a theory of displacement
Should Toronto Community Housing tenants in good standing ever be asked to leave their homes?
It’s a question that elicits strong opinions. Read more…
Diamonds in the mud
Last week I emailed a few friends about the Toronto Community Housing’s Regent Park “scandal,” as described by the Toronto Sun columnist Sue-Ann Levy. Each responded with exactly the same question: “Who is Sue-Ann Levy?”
So for the (apparently) many who have missed the story, here’s a recap. Read more…
Dave, we need you!
I’m a sucker for fairy tales — the kind where the humble but cheery peasant becomes ruler of the land. So I’ve always had a soft spot for Dave, the 1990’s flick that puts an Everyman played by Kevin Kline into the Oval Office.
In one pivotal scene, Dave is attending a Cabinet meeting. (Go ahead and watch the Youtube clip – it’s just one minute long.) Read more…
When cash isn’t the cure
If you’ve been following the lively public debate around TCHC’s stand alone houses, you might have come away thinking Toronto Community Housing has only one goal: raise money to fix up its buildings.
It’s a worthy goal. You can’t stay long in the landlord business if you don’t break even, and you can’t be a responsible landlord unless your buildings are in good repair.
But is this the City’s goal? Read more…
There ain’t no rental housing if there ain’t no rent
Last week Toronto Star columnist Joe Fiorito offered his reflections on TCHC’s eviction prevention policy:
“The point of TCHC’s eviction prevention program is to prevent the poor, the elderly, and those people who are unable to look after themselves, from being tossed onto the street.
All you really need to know about this is contained in one simple sentence, in the letter accompanying the LeSage update: “Good eviction prevention programs cannot be implemented at the expense of rent collection.”
Those are the words of Len Koroneos, the interim CEO. You know what that sounds like to me? Your money, or your life.” Read more…
Good rhetoric. Bad policy.
Hoisted by my own petard!
As someone who has worked off and on in communications, I know the value of the guerrilla statistic – that wham-o number that galvanizes action.
But last week’s meeting of Toronto City Council’s Executive Committee reminded me that catchy communications can sometimes lead us down the wrong policy path. Read more…
Renting vs Owning: Is the Counterintuitive argument right?
Michael Mendelson’s comments on Joy’s “The Givers and the Takers” entry raised an interesting question about the role of home ownership in building wealth in Canada. He said: “[the] assumption that your parents did very well in their housing investment may be incorrect. You have to ask how they would have done with an alternative investment and renting. Given the huge increase in the value of equities, your parents might today be much wealthier had they instead rented equivalent accommodation and invested well in the market.”
Is the conventional wisdom wrong? Read more…
Is Toronto Community Housing too big?
Toronto Community Housing is Canada’s housing giant. At 58,500 units, it is the second largest social housing landlord in North America, second only to the New York Housing Authority.
In Canada’s social housing world, no-one else comes even close. Ottawa Community Housing is next at 15,000 units, followed by BC Housing and Peel Living with around 7,000 units apiece. After that only a handful of other Canadian social housing providers break the 1,000-unit mark.
It’s also big by private sector standards. According to their company websites, CapREIT owns 30,821 units across Canada; Greenwin manages 20,000 (and some of these are at TCHC); Minto manages 14,000.
So it is no wonder some people are asking, “Is Toronto Community Housing’s size a good thing, or a bad thing?” Read more…
The Givers and the Takers
This week, I once again heard the now-familiar tale of “The Givers and the Takers.”
The Givers, the story goes, are the hard-working people of Toronto. Through their own efforts they have made successes of their lives, bought their own homes and become contributing members of society. It is the taxes on their hard-earned money that sustains this city.
The Takers, on the other hand, neither work nor pay taxes. Yet they have spacious homes and all manner of nice things, courtesy of the Givers. These people live in Toronto Community Housing. Read more…
Opening the Window 