Page 8 - Presbyterian Connection

Connection
LEADERSHIP
About Canada’s Affordable Housing Crisis
8 SPRING 2023
PRESBYTERIAN
presbyterian.ca
PHOTO CREDIT: CANADIAN MORTGAGE AND HOUSING CORPORATION
By Ainsley Chapman, Executive Director of Evangel Hall Mission,
a multi-service homelessness and social housing agency in Toronto, and a mission of The Presbyterian Church in Canada. Ainsley has been working with the City of Toronto, and a coalition of housing providers on a housing strategy to reduce homelessness.
One of the most commonly asked questions I have addressed in the past year is: “We see so much homelessness in our communi- ty—how can we help?” To under- stand how we can help, it’s impor- tant to first understand a bit about how we try to move people who are homeless out of shelters and into housing. One way to visualize housing is on a continuum—the way that the Canadian Mor tgage and Housing Corporation has done. In this visual, you can pic- ture a community with a range of different types of housing.
Emergency Shelter: Someone might stay here anywhere from a few nights to a few months. There might be food and some suppor ts, but that isn’t guaranteed.
Transitional Housing: This housing is designed to be short- term and often includes programs to teach life skills to tenants to help them learn how to live in- dependently. For instance, they might learn to shop for food, cook and pay bills. There may be pro- grams to help with mental health and addictions suppor t. Usually within a year, they are ready—and they are expected to move into more permanent housing, such as
Suppor tive Housing, Community Housing or Affordable Housing.
Supportive Housing: This type of housing comes with many sup- por ts—it could include meal ser- vice, personal suppor t workers, cleaning staff, and even nursing and some medical care. These extra suppor ts help someone live independently if they have mobil- ity issues, serious mental health concerns or medical needs, and are offered directly by the building.
Community Housing: Some- times called Social Housing or Subsidized Housing, these are homes where tenants only pay a very small amount of rent. They need to be able to live indepen- dently, but often will qualify for community services, who come to their home to provide meals, cleaning, and personal or nursing care.
Affordable Housing: Your hous- ing is affordable if you pay less than 30% of your before-tax in- come. This could be through renting, or through a rent-to-own or an affordable home ownership program.
Market Housing: Housing sale prices and rents are decided by the building’s owners at any price they want.
In a healthy community, some- one who is homeless or in an emergency shelter, can move along the continuum over time, and find themselves in a perma- nent home. Let’s take “Gerry” as an example. Gerry finds himself in anemergencyshelter—heshould be able to eventually move into permanent housing in a few weeks or months. If he needs a lot of suppor ts, it might be suppor tive housing, or if he can live indepen- dently, he could move into com- munity housing. If he has a job he might even be able to move into an apar tment that he can afford, and eventually, he might get married and he and his wife might qualify for an affordable home ownership
Ainsley Chapman, Executive Director, with the Rev. Dale Henry, who pro- vides Spiritual Care to tenants living in the Residences at ehm.
program. Every time Gerry moves along the continuum, it opens up a place for someone else behind him. This is called “Housing Flow.”
In communities across Canada, there isn’t enough affordable hous- ing for people like Gerry to move to. In fact, there’s not enough community housing or suppor tive housing, either. So instead of stay- ing in a shelter for a few weeks or months, Gerry spends years in a shelter. The people who are sup- posed to stay for less than a year in transitional housing don’t have anywhere to go, either. People who have mobility devices are living in apar tments not designed for them to move about safely or freely. People who need extra suppor ts are struggling in apartments they can’t clean, and don’t have a way to make themselves meals. The system gets stuck, and there is no more “Housing Flow.”
So what can be done? We need to open up that system and build more housing. We need to build lots of it, and we need to build all kinds of different housing. The moretypesofhousingacommu- nity has, the more ways we can lift people up out of poverty, so that they can live in dignity, in a place where they are proud to call home.
A Presbyterian response
to the housing crisis Churches have always sought to provide care and sanctuary for those in need. Before Canada had a social safety net, Presby- terians understood that everyone
was deserving of food, shelter, love and dignity, and opened their doors to those in need. And when it became clear that food and clothing weren’t enough, Pres- byterians started to build. They built housing through Presbyte- rian missions like Evangel Hall in Toronto, which provides 130 subsidized apartments with sup- ports to people who come from the shelter system. Presbyterians built housing on church land as a way to create affordable places for people to live, while generat- ing revenue to help sustain their congregation. They built housing for seniors, housing for families, housing for people of all incomes.
With the impact of the pan- demic, inflation and the costs of repairs, many congregations are looking at their proper ties and considering their options. We have the oppor tunity to build again, and change the course of the housing crisis in Canada.
Governments at all levels are creating incentives to help make building financially affordable. Most building projects involve a mix of market rent—high (monthly revenue to pay for the mor tgage) and affordable (to create hous- ing for low-income and middle- income tenants). Designing, plan- ning and accessing capital to build new housing is easier than it has ever been, and more churches and charities are taking on building projects than we’ve seen in many decades. There are more non- profitdevelopers—charitiesand nonprofits with project manag- ers—who are putting the interests of the church and the community first.
So how does one begin to imag- ine what a project could look like? Here are some questions to star t with:
1. What can be done on our land? Local zoning rules, herit- age status and land size will shape how high and wide a building can
be, and that can decide what type of project is best for that site and whether development is afford- able. Some proper ties might be perfect for low-rise, affordable home ownership (think condos and townhouses), others might be great for 60–100 apar tments at 5, 6 or 7 stories. Churches can get high-level feasibility assessments done quickly and for a reasonable cost.
2. What does the neighbour- hood need? What can it offer? If a location is close to health centres, pharmacies and groceries, it might be a great fit for seniors’ housing. If the area is lacking in community space for dance and music class- es, spor ts and fitness, and events, there might be political suppor t and additional funding to build rec- reational facilities that can be used by the community. Some commu- nities have a shor tage of places for families to live, and need 2–3 bedroom apar tments.
3. What does the congrega- tion need? What can it manage? How much space for the sanctu- ary and offices is necessary and can it be made multi-purpose? Renting out community and event space can require event planning and business management skills; managing tenants requires prop- er ty management and other skills. Would the congregation want to manage it internally or outsource it? Or perhaps it wants to partner with a charity to manage and sup- por t tenants.
4.Whatkindoflegacydoes the congregation want to leave? Creating affordable housing— whether it be places to rent or to own, whether it be for seniors or for families—will prevent and re- duce homelessness.
For more information about the housing crisis and strategies for building, Ainsley Chapman can be reached at Evangel Hall at ainsley.chapman@evangelhall.ca or 416-504-3563 ext. 227.