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Mayor Tory and Councillor Bailão host Toronto Housing Summit to find solutions to city’s housing shortage

September 30, 2016
 
Today, Mayor John Tory and Toronto's Housing Advocate, Councillor Ana Bailão (Ward 18 Davenport), hosted a Toronto Housing Summit with more than 200 participants to help generate concrete housing solutions to help shape the federal government's National Housing Strategy. Mayor Tory was joined by Jean-Yves Duclos, Canada's Minister of Families, Children and Social Development; Chris Ballard, Ontario's Minister of Housing and Minister Responsible for the Poverty Reduction Strategy; as well as developers, tenants, co-ops and non-profit agencies.
 
Held in conjunction with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ (FCM) Big City Mayors' Caucus, the summit included representatives from other Canadian cities who added their voices to the need for federal action on affordable housing. Other city representatives included Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson, Chair of the Big City Mayors' Caucus, and Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson. Also attending was Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic; London Mayor Matt Brown; Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie; Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger; Deputy Ottawa Mayor Mark Taylor; Russell Copeman, Ville de Montreal, Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce; and Myriam Nadeau, conseillere municipal, district de Pointe-Gatineau.
 
“The Toronto Summit has demonstrated that Toronto and cities across the country need a new partnership on tackling homelessness, social and affordable housing,” said Mayor Tory. “We have already taken action and made commitments on funding and land to make affordable housing happen. We expect that the National Housing Strategy will deliver the resources we need to fund our backlog of housing need and address our challenges into the future."
 
“Today's Housing Summit has demonstrated that there are solutions to the housing issues facing Toronto,” said Councillor Bailão. “We have heard loud and clear from the many participants in the summit that they are committed to working together and contributing their expertise in implementing the programs they expect to be part of a National Housing Strategy."
 
Toronto is facing a full range of housing issues, from persistent homelessness, a lack of funds to repair social housing, a shortage of affordable rental housing, and general decline in housing affordability. In response to these challenges, the city is challenging the federal and provincial governments to do more to address the full range of housing issues facing Toronto.
 
This news release is also available on the City of Toronto website at http://ow.ly/gYKb304INWo.
 
Toronto is Canada's largest city, the fourth largest in North America, and home to a diverse population of about 2.8 million people. It is a global centre for business, finance, arts and culture and is consistently ranked one of the world's most livable cities. For information on non-emergency City services and programs, Toronto residents, businesses and visitors can visit http://www.toronto.ca, call 311, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or follow us @TorontoComms.
 
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Media contacts: 
Keerthana Kamalavasan, Office of the Mayor, 647-460-7507, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Robert Cerjanec, Office of Councillor Bailão, 416-338-5274, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Cheryl San Juan, Strategic Communications, 416-397-5305, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.