Item - 2021.EX24.8

The Executive Committee recommends that:  

1. City Council receive the 2019-2022 Poverty Reduction Strategy Action Plan Status Update outlined in Attachment 1 to the report (May 17, 2021) from the Executive Director, Social Development, Finance and Administration for information.

2. City Council request the Medical Officer of Health to transfer responsibility of the Toronto Food Strategy to the Social Development, Finance and Administration Division, and City Council direct the Executive Director, Social Development, Finance and Administration to report to the Economic and Community Development Committee in the first quarter of 2022 on actions required to fully incorporate the City’s food security objectives into the Poverty Reduction Strategy.

3.  City Council request the Toronto Transit Commission Board to request the Chief Executive Officer, Toronto Transit Commission, to explore the feasibility of improving access to the Fair Pass Program, in consultation with the City's Poverty Reduction Strategy Office, and to expedite any ongoing work, including but not limited to:

a. explore the feasibility of in-person registration in accordance with public health guidelines;

b. expedite extending the Fair Pass program to residents who already receive other means-tested supports such as rent geared to income housing; and

c. explore the feasibility of mailing programmed, validated PRESTO cards to facilitate and ensure access;

and to report back to the Toronto Accessibility Advisory Committee on the results of the review by the fourth quarter of 2021.

The ways in which COVID-19 has impacted Torontonians is a reflection of how poverty impacts Torontonians. Inadequate and unaffordable housing prevents many residents from being able to follow physical distancing protocols. The shutdown of many necessary services and supports, many of which are operated by the City and its partners, means that the vulnerabilities that residents are experiencing due to poverty are exacerbated further. A deficit of quality jobs and livable incomes places residents in economic precarity and reliant on low-wage, precarious work, roles which have been deemed essential in many cases. To travel to these jobs, these residents are disproportionately dependent on a public transit system that is more reliant on fare revenue than other systems making transit more unaffordable. The high cost of living in Toronto also includes the high cost of food, placing many in danger of going hungry. And much of this is due to systemic barriers that are increasingly gendered, racialized and geographically concentrated that places certain communities, including Indigenous and Black residents and people with disabilities, in higher social and economic precarity than others.

This dynamic illustrates the importance of the City’s Poverty Reduction Strategy in achieving its broader COVID-19 recovery and rebuild goals. This report outlines the City’s progress to date in implementing the current 2019-2022 Poverty Reduction Strategy Action Plan, and highlights the ways in which staff are adjusting and prioritizing next steps to advance both the objectives of poverty reduction and equitable, inclusive recovery and rebuilding. The report also makes specific recommendations to improve supports for residents during and after the current public health emergency.

Wayne Chu, Manager, Poverty Reduction Strategy Office, will give a presentation on preliminary mid-term status update for the 2019-2022 Poverty Reduction Strategy Action Plan, and update on the Fair Pass Transit Discount Program. Feedback on this presentation will be incorporated into the next Poverty Reduction Strategy staff report.