The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing has announced Ontario’s long-term affordable housing strategy. The strategy proposes significant legislative change but does not include new funding or timelines for implementation.
The affordable housing strategy, an element of the province’s poverty reduction strategy, proposes to replace the outdated and administratively complicated Social Housing Reform Act with new legislation and reforms to existing housing-related acts to make the rules governing social housing less complex. Changes include consolidating the range of housing and homelessness programs, and giving municipalities the flexibility to use funding where it is most needed. Other proposed changes would simplify rent-geared-to-income calculations, helping tenants who earn income to increase their financial stability. New legislation that would implement these changes was also introduced.
However, the new housing strategy does not include a long-term vision for affordable housing development. The plan does not discuss any further investment in affordable housing and there are no significant measures included for tracking outcomes or timelines for implementation.
See “Building Foundations: Building Futures,” Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, November 2010, available at www.mah.gov.on.ca.
For more information about affordable housing issues in Ontario, visit the Ontario Housing Network website at www.stableandaffordable.com.