National Housing Day Rally sends a loud message: Build Social Housing Now!

By Fred Alvarado Fred is a community journalist with FOCUS MEDIA ARTS CENTRE

Welcome to RPTV Weekly News Show Episode 40. In this weekly news show hosted by RPTV reporters Allanis Inguillo, Kedar Ahmed, Fred Alvarado, Jabin Haque, Victoria Nanneti and Miguel Ventura, we present news that impacts on Toronto's Regent Park and the surrounding areas.

Episode 40 features segments on:

* National Housing Day Rally – Build Social Housing Now! (01:21 min);
* Report of Regent Park SDP Employment and Economic Development Monthly Meeting (07:32 min);
* Native Earth celebrates annual Indigenous Festival ‘Weesageechak Begins to Dance 35’ (11:37 min);
* City of Toronto Archives hosts Black Women in Leadership photography exhibition (15:46 min);
* Swedish Christmas Fair 2022 takes place in Regent Park (17:07 min);
* Toronto's food banks are at 'crisis levels,' say authors of 2022 Who's Hungry report (18:28 min);
* Toronto police appeal for info about outstanding assault suspect as more victims come forward (21:18 min);
* Social isolation on the rise while civic engagement has dropped in Toronto, study finds (22:29 min);
* Covid-19 Vaccination & wellness clinics in the neighborhood (24:57 min);
* Events & Jobs in Regent Park Community (25:55 min).

This week’s lead story:

The Shelter and Housing Justice Network (SHJN) called for a mass rally on November 22nd, 2022 at David Crombie Park at the corner of Sherbourne and Esplanade where roughly 150 people gathered to send a loud message to all levels of government to build social housing now! The event had lunch, speakers, music performances, and more.

 “We are in a worst situation compared to last year and we know that we continue to experience a social housing crisis across the country. What we’re seeing is a result of decades of cuts by all levels of government, we are witnessing at least 30 years of dismantling and defunding our social housing. We are in an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in this city created by the lack of available affordable and social housing combined with shelters being full and the crisis of opioid overdose poisoning deaths. We know that this will lead to more suffering and deaths. Last year, we know that 216 people without housing died in this city, that is an absolute shame. If we don’t have additional space and housing this winter, we know that more people are going to die, this is the sad and raging reality,” said social worker Sheryl Lindsay of Regent Park Community Health Centre’s advocacy committee in her speech at the rally.

In December 2021, the ‘Toronto Homeless Memorial’ recorded the highest number of homeless deaths per month to date. Despite the dangerous shortage of shelter spaces and the dire lack of affordable housing, the City is planning to close shelter-hotels and continues to attack and displace encampment residents.

Lorraine Lam, a community worker and advocate with the Shelter and Housing Justice Network, pointed out a list of demands to all levels of government including:

* Build rent geared-to-income social housing in Toronto: 10,000 units immediately to address homelessness and 90,000 units to address the growing waitlist.
* Immediately stop the eviction of encampment residents.
* End the planned closure of shelter hotels. Existing hotel programs must remain open
* Increase the Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program shelter allowance to
* the average market rent in each region.

Housing in Canada is deeply unaffordable and the crisis escalates everyday. Across the country, people are being priced out of rental stock, losing their housing and sleeping in tents, bus shelters and ravines because they cannot access housing or shelter.