Homeward Trust calls for ‘rights-based’ approach to affordable housing

No one is allowed to say they don’t want “those people” living near them at public hearings in Toronto.

Edmonton’s Homeward Trust wants the same provision here, arguing for a “rights-based” approach to ensure housing for those struggling with mental health challenges, addictions and poverty can’t be blocked by prejudice.

In Toronto, council starts out every meeting on affordable housing by asking people to stick to the facts, saying: “We will not allow ignorance or prejudice to block the right of individuals and families to live in affordable housing in any corner of our great city.”

Council’s executive committee will wrestle with Edmonton’s last significant hurdle to ending homelessness Tuesday, finding locations to build homes for the hardest to house.

It needs 20 to 30 new sites, say staff, but it still has no clear list for where to put them and in the past, opposition has been strong.

On Tuesday, city staff will propose a new set of guidelines: supportive housing must be near transit, integrated into the community and within walking distance of shops and other amenities.

Homeward Trust is calling on Edmonton to go further — to adopt this rights-based approach, to clarify its zoning requirements to make finding appropriate sites easier for all housing providers and reduce parking demands. It’s also asking for access to surplus city land, according to a report heading to executive committee.

“These are big challenges,” said Homeward Trust executive Susan McGee. “The biggest issue is clarity.”

City officials are also pitching a target of 10 per cent affordable housing across the city, including the new neighbourhood of Blatchford. That means 1,200 units, with staff suggesting a $10-million commitment from the city should go first to supportive housing. Funding for other units would have to come from other levels of government.

The amount of non-market housing varies widely across the city. A new map included in the report has Ward 9 in the TerwillegarRiverbend area and south with just 0.4 per cent non-market housing. The northwest Ward 2 has 5.7 per cent, while the more central Ward 6 has the highest at 9.5 per cent.

Residents of McCauley and other inner-city neighbourhoods have long argued the concentration of poverty and subsidized housing in their area is creating dangerous levels of social disorder. Many experts say spreading non-market housing throughout the city would be better for neighbourhoods and the people who need the support.

The report also starts work on a new wellness centre for the inner city.

That was promised after council endorsed supervised injection sites for the area, Mayor Don Iveson said last week.

In the report, staff say they will start talking with residents this summer, seeking out those who normally don’t participate. That includes businesses, faith and cultural groups in the area and people who are or were homeless. They’re scheduled to report back with a plan in June 2018.