Item - 2021.EC20.3

The Economic and Community Development Committee recommends that:

1.  City Council reiterate the request to the Provincial Government from the Housing and People Action Plan to provide urgent renter assistance through time-limited measures, including:

a.  establishing a Provincially-funded and Provincially-delivered temporary assistance program that supports tenants to pay the rent during the economic recovery; and

b.  implementing measures to minimize the number of court ordered evictions due to rental arrears during the pandemic.

2.  City Council urgently reiterate the request that the Federal and Provincial Governments expedite 1,000 additional new portable (and flexible) Canada-Ontario Housing Benefits to help households secure housing available for rent in Toronto and across the region.

Since the start of the pandemic, the City has made significant commitments to expand supports for households at risk of eviction to prevent people from becoming homeless due to eviction. This includes recent enhancements to the Eviction Prevention in the Community and Toronto Rent Bank programs, as outlined in the Toronto Rent Bank and Eviction Prevention in the Community Programs - Update, a report that was adopted with amendments at the Economic and Community Development Committee meeting on December 7, 2020.

As a follow up, staff have been requested to report back to the Economic and Community Development Committee on accelerating ongoing work to improve the effectiveness of the Toronto Rent Bank and Eviction Prevention in the Community programs and to further expand both programs including additional outreach to communities disproportionately affected by COVID-19.

This report provides updates on Toronto Rent Bank and Eviction Prevention in the Community programs, including additional program changes to increase access and uptake. Changes include piloting the Toronto Rent Bank program as a grant program instead of a loan program until March 31, 2022 and an additional $3 million investment of COVID-19 emergency funds into the Toronto Rent Bank program. No additional funds are required for the Eviction Prevention in the Community Program at this time; however, staff will continue to monitor service levels and assess options for in-year investment if needed.

In the context of COVID-19, many renter households in Toronto are facing economic uncertainty, and over time these impacts are compounding, especially for people in low-income households. According to a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation Rental Market Report 2021, there are approximately 35,000 households in arrears in Toronto. While the eviction moratorium in place during the provincial stay-at-home order provided some short-term relief, if the underlying causes of housing instability for tenants and loss of rental income for landlords are not addressed, these moratoriums may result in a surge of eviction enforcements after the moratoriums are lifted.

Eviction prevention programs are an important way to help low-income households to maintain their housing and to reduce pressure on the shelter system. Toronto's eviction prevention programs are designed to address immediate, short-term, and unanticipated issues that prevent people from becoming homeless by eviction. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the needs of tenants facing ongoing economic uncertainty due to the pandemic have grown beyond the mandate and scope of the City's current eviction prevention programs.

While Toronto's eviction prevention programs are committed to improving access for low-income and vulnerable households, there is also the urgent need for immediate assistance from other orders of government to address the urgent scale of housing instability exacerbated by the ongoing economic uncertainty of the pandemic. This includes addressing the immediate backlog of arrears from during the pandemic by implementing a residential emergency rental assistance program similar to those created for commercial tenants. Government coordination will also be necessary to address the deepening housing unaffordability challenges that renters are facing.

This report requests the provincial government provide urgent renter assistance by establishing a provincially funded and delivered temporary rental assistance program that supports tenants to avoid evictions due to arrears and pay the rent during the pandemic, consistent with existing Council requests in the Housing and People Action Plan to support economic recovery. Furthermore, the report reiterates the request to federal and provincial governments to expedite the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit to provide an immediate allocation of 1,000 new benefits for Toronto, as aligned with the City of Toronto's 24-Month Housing Plan.