Tory challenged over youth, poverty program funding

Ongoing underinvestment has led to communities that lack public space, adequate housing and other supports which the city must address in its upcoming budget, a downtown councillor has told Mayor John Tory.

Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam, in a letter to Tory dated Monday, called for Tory to “adequately fund” both the city’s youth equity strategy — which has survived on just a fraction of the funding needed to fully implement the anti-vio- lence and inclusion initiatives — as well as the council-backed poverty reduction plan which seeks to address homelessness, student nutrition and other challenges.

“Over the last few years, Toronto has reached the limits of its programs and facilities on many fronts,” Wong-Tam wrote, noting the recent fire at 650 Parliament St. led to many residents being displaced and some temporarily housed in a local community centre.

“We need to ensure that when emergencies take place we are not asking those with the most urgent needs to make this kind of sacrifice.

“We can only do this by meeting our shelter and housing crises head-on, investing in community resources for neighbourhoods facing poverty and violence, and by improving access to city hall for those speaking on behalf of communities in need.”

The Toronto Centre councillor said areas like St. James Town and Regent Park “are in need of robust community services, recreation programs, and uninterrupted school operations to provide local children and youth with critical opportunities.”

Her letter comes after Mackai Bishop Jackson, barely 15, was shot dead in

Regent Park. The teen often attended the after-school program at Regent Park Community Centre, but programs there had been suspended as the centre was used to provide temporary housing to 650 Parliament tenants.

Sureya Ibrahim, who helps facilitate programs at the Regent Park centre, called Jackson’s death preventable, saying the need for supervised community space for youth is great. She said Tuesday she is thankful for Wong-Tam’s letter.

“They say this is a priority neighbourhood. You don’t take away from a priority neighbourhood,” Ibrahim said, urging long-term solutions for shelter and emergencies. As for the mayor, she said: “I hope he listens.”

The Toronto Youth Equity Strategy was adopted by coun- cil in 2014. It was written by city staff and based on the seminal Roots of Youth Violence report commissioned by the province and written by former provincial cabinet minister Alvin Curling and former Ontario chief justice Roy McMurtry.

However, since it was adopted, council has failed to fully fund the strategy with the $15.8 million annually needed.

Instead it subsists with two dedicated staff and less than $500,000.

Of the 110 actions outlined in the strategy, 59 have not been started or are still in the pilot or design phase without sustainable funding.

As the city begins discussions about the 2019 budget, WongTam is also asking that the poverty reduction plan receive necessary funding.

Each year since the strategy was adopted by council, the initiatives contained in it have been left on the chopping block, causing advocates to implore council to continue funding them — a debate some on council agree is unnecessary, saying the funding should be in the budget permanently.

Tory’s spokesperson Don Peat reiterated the mayor has committed to reviewing the funding for the youth equity strategy and that he has a record of seeing funding for the poverty reduction strategy approved.