Housing Update. A message to residents. 2014: a year in review. Contact us. Information for Toronto Community Housing residents.

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1 Housing Update Information for Toronto Community Housing residents January 2015 A message to residents 2015 will be a defining year for Toronto Community Housing. We will continue our record pace of capital repairs to fix your homes. We will increase service levels by adding staff in our buildings and Operating Unit offices. We will launch a resident engagement system that reflects your needs. And we will conduct a resident survey to improve how we serve you. Read more about what s coming in this update. With these changes, you should start to see a real difference in your homes and quality of life over the coming year will also be a defining year for the future of our housing. If we get the money we re asking for from the federal and provincial governments, we can keep making catch-up repairs to fix all our buildings by 2023 so they can serve Toronto s needs for 40 more years. But the money we have now from the City of Toronto will start to run out in That s why we continue to urge our political leaders to come to the table. With the city, we will speak with one voice about how it is time to start finding real solutions to Toronto Community Housing s challenges. Greg Spearn President and CEO (Interim) 2014: a year in review These photos are from events we ve hosted in communities across Toronto. Contact us Questions? Ideas for how we can serve you better? Tell us. To reach any member of our team, contact our Client Care Centre at or send an to help@torontohousing.ca for non-emergency service. For the latest news, visit our website torontohousing.ca.

2 Fixing big repair projects now: roofs, parking garages, life safety systems The majority of our buildings are over 50 years old. As buildings get older, they start to need major repairs and upkeep. Toronto Community Housing faces the challenge of having to make $2.6 billion in capital repairs over 10 years to keep most of our homes from falling into a critical state of disrepair. Capital repairs are big repair projects to upgrade or replace things like roofs, elevators, boilers and parking garages. They are handled by Toronto Community Housing s Facilities Management team. We know these repairs are needed, and that s why we re continuing to ramp up spending to fix our buildings. Our 2015 capital plan includes $175 million for capital repairs up from $128 million in the 2014 plan and $68 million in We are also expanding our in-suite repairs and Participatory Budgeting programs to help improve living conditions for residents and address community priorities. To find out more about capital repairs, call the Client Care Centre at They will connect you with someone who can answer your questions. You can also visit our website at torontohousing.ca/capitalrepairs. Our website now includes an online map of our 2014 capital program showing where and how we are investing to improve our housing. Getting the funding we need As we invest more money to catch up on capital repairs to our buildings, we need the federal and provincial governments to come to the table. Working with the City of Toronto, we have done our part and raised more than one-third of the $2.6 billion we need to make critical repairs in communities across the city. We need the federal and provincial governments to support us by each investing $864 million (one-third of the funding each), because in 2016 the money we have from the city will start to run out. The $2.6 billion in repair and maintenance costs over 10 years is a one-time investment of about $50,000 per unit. To replace these same homes would cost $250,000 to $300,000 per unit. We believe that investing now, to preserve billions of dollars already invested in our public asset, is the right thing to do. The conversation about our funding needs has started through the Close the Housing Gap campaign in partnership with the City of Toronto. Join us in calling on the federal and provincial governments to invest in our capital repair plan. Find out how you can help by visiting torontohousing.ca/supportourplan.

3 Coming soon: new Tenant Guide New work notice posters NEW! The new Tenant Guide is coming. You will soon see posters in your building, Operating Unit office or Property Management office with information on how to get a copy. You can expect to see a new work notice for repair projects that will show what repairs are being done in your community. These new posters will help you quickly see what work is being done, how long it will take and how it might affect you. Investing in accessibility Toronto Community Housing is home to people with many different needs. Our 2015 budget invests $6.5 million for upgrades to make homes and common areas in our buildings accessible for all. This is triple what we budgeted in We are investing: $3.5 million for accessibility upgrades to common areas. $3 million to make in-suite accessibility upgrades. These investments are part of our plan to improve the state of our buildings and quality of life for residents. Connect with us online You can find Toronto Community Housing on Facebook, Instagram and

4 Make your voice heard We re moving forward on designing a new resident engagement system that reflects your needs. Early in 2015, you ll hear from staff about meetings in your community. We ll discuss your ideas and priorities. Your feedback will help shape the system. Resident elections will be held later in In 2015, residents will also select two resident members of Toronto Community Housing s Board of Directors. For more details, visit torontohousing.ca/residentengagement or residentengagement@torontohousing.ca. Also look for our tenant survey in the mail. It will be sent to random households early in The information will help us improve services. Get involved in your community 1 The Connected for Success program provides Toronto Community Housing residents with affordable broadband Internet for $9.99 per month, and the ability to purchase a low-cost computer. This program is in partnership with Rogers, Compugen and Microsoft Canada. For more information, call If you are a resident living with a physical disability, the Responsible Personal Accessibility in Toronto Housing (R-PATH) committee advocates for your needs and advises Toronto Community Housing management on ways to improve accessibility. To learn more or join the committee, contact the Chair of R-PATH, Cathy Birch, at Need more information about engagement activities? 3 Toronto Community Housing has a number of youth sports programs, from Rookie League, a summer-long baseball camp in partnership with Jays Care Foundation, to KickStart, a soccer program delivered with the support of the MLSE Foundation, Toronto FC and Kia Canada. For more information on our active living programs, call or send an to youth@torontohousing.ca. 4 Toronto Community Housing works with business partners to create and leverage opportunities to build your skills and meet the needs of the local labour market. There are also job fairs held throughout the year. For more information call or send an to economic-opps@torontohousing.ca. Ask the Community Services Coordinator working in your community or call

5 2014 in review Last year was an important year for Toronto Community Housing. We continued to increase our capital repair spending, and as a result of our strong performance, we are well prepared to build on our success in Highlights from 2014 include: A $128-million capital repair plan, double our 2013 capital plan. Completing over 76,000 repairs through the State of Good Repair: In Your Unit program. Securing additional funding for our 10-year capital plan, through mortgage and loan refi nancing with Infrastructure Ontario ($30 million) and the City of Toronto ($33 million). Opening the Office of the Commissioner of Housing Equity, a first in North America. Successful youth partnerships, including Rookie League, Midnight Madness and KickStart. Highlights of the 2015 budget The Board of Directors has approved the 2015 budget. It increases our capital spending to improve buildings across the city, and invests in residents. 60 More front-line staff to improve service to residents $175M Capital repairs: $47 million increase from % + Increase in Participatory Budgeting for communityidentified needs 50% + Increased funding for cameras and upgrades to improve safety

6 Translated copies are available upon request. Please call Cópias traduzidas estão disponíveis mediante pedido. É favor telefonar para Waxaa la heli karaa koobiyo turjuman haddii la codsado. Fadlan wac Des copies traduites sont disponibles sur demande. Veuillez téléphoner au Ejemplares traducidos se encuentran disponibles a solicitud. Favor de llamar al Traduzioni di copie sono disponibili su richiesta. Siete pregati di telefonare al NEW! Get your copy of the new Tenant Guide.