Campaign Assignment by Sean Devine https://padlet.com/seandevine20/qa0tg4on4og0jneb Made with a quick smile en-us 2022-04-11 21:36:26 UTC 2025-10-18 22:43:46 UTC hello@padlet.com Housing NOW! https://padlet.com/seandevine20/qa0tg4on4og0jneb/wish/2139887744 We call for the City of Toronto, the Housing and Development Planning Committee and the External Advisory Council to revise the HousingTO 2020-2030 Action Plan to include people living below poverty line. The current solution proposed by the City of Toronto is leaving out the most vulnerable communities and is instead geared towards helping low-income residents and people renting homes. The ten year plan to build 40,000 new affordable rental homes is not accessible to the homeless population. Affordable homes are rented just below market rates, which are still too high for a person that does not have a steady income. There is no mention of further funding for the collapsing shelter system in the city's plan, and does not include building emergency shelters for people at risk of freezing to death in the winter.
There is no mention of permanent housing solutions for those living in poverty and as the numbers of homeless people have risen since the pandemic, the HousingTO Plan has not been revised to address the housing crisis.
 
]]> 2022-04-11 22:13:14 UTC https://padlet.com/seandevine20/qa0tg4on4og0jneb/wish/2139887744 The Issues seandevine20 https://padlet.com/seandevine20/qa0tg4on4og0jneb/wish/2139909213 There are over 7000 homeless people in the City of Toronto and the number is rising. The shelter system is broken and lacks sufficient funding to provide a dignified life. We see a complete lack of accessible housing to the tackle this problem. The HousingTO Action Plan put forward by City Council claims it will build 40,000 affordable homes by 2030. Only 1000 of these will be truly accessible to the homeless as modular homes. We find this solution to be inadequate when the housing is still commodified. Additionally, a target of 2030 is inadequate when 132 people died in the shelter system in 2021 alone, according to the City. ]]> 2022-04-11 22:41:37 UTC https://padlet.com/seandevine20/qa0tg4on4og0jneb/wish/2139909213 Objective seandevine20 https://padlet.com/seandevine20/qa0tg4on4og0jneb/wish/2139917555 The objective of our campaign is to pressure the City to revise their HousingTO plan to build affordable housing. Their plan involves building 40,000 affordable units in the city by 2030. However, only 1000 modular units for homeless populations will be built. In our view, this solution addresses a need for housing from the working poor but does little to alleviate homelessness. The timeline is also too distant considering people are dying in shelters on a near daily basis. The hope to "increase access to affordable rents" but this does nothing for people who can't afford any rent at all. We are asking for a plan that revises the HousingTO proposal to built 40,000 affordable homes that requires 10,000 of the units to be deeply affordable and low barrier to access. This means that minimal documentation should be required and there should be a range of support services such as overdose prevention and accessibility services. The City's plan to build 1000 modular homes in out-of-the-way areas falls very short of providing for the over 7000 homeless people in Toronto who require access to transit and other services. With the city growing at a rapid rate, some of this profit should trickle down to our most vulnerable populations. Through social media campaigns and consultation with City Council members directly we hope to impact development to move in a more equitable direction. ]]> 2022-04-11 22:52:35 UTC https://padlet.com/seandevine20/qa0tg4on4og0jneb/wish/2139917555 Stakeholders seandevine20 https://padlet.com/seandevine20/qa0tg4on4og0jneb/wish/2139924593 We can find allies among the homeless population as well as anyone living in the city who is troubled by the drastic rise in housing prices.  A 2021 ACORN Report found that the Housing and Planning Committee, made up of 10 members of City Council, took a combined $4 million in "donations" from developers. The commodification of housing and this partnership between the City and developers creates a system where many people are living precariously and risk falling into homelessness at any point. When this information is spread to the public through our campaign we feel they will recognize how unfair this is and how this system impacts their lives and will join us in opposition to the City and developers.]]> 2022-04-11 23:02:24 UTC https://padlet.com/seandevine20/qa0tg4on4og0jneb/wish/2139924593 Target of Campaign seandevine20 https://padlet.com/seandevine20/qa0tg4on4og0jneb/wish/2139942207 The target of our campaign is mainly focused on the municipal level because the City is the main governing body over the implementation of housing development, as well as the shelter system and fighting poverty. We will focus on key members of City Council, such as Mayor John Tory because he is the public face of City Council and is a member of the Planning and Housing Committee who are in charge of new development and inclusionary zoning. We will also target Ana Bailao, a member of the Housing and Planning Committee and the co-chair of External Advisory Committee, which is an advisory board of community organizations and real estate and property lobbyists. This is an important target because they give disproportionate sway in City Council to groups seeking to profit off the rising cost of housing and so must be countered by popular action. Giuliana Carbone, Deputy City Manager for the City's Community and Social Services, is another target because she plays an important role in areas related to community housing that are vital to having our campaign implemented.]]> 2022-04-11 23:26:04 UTC https://padlet.com/seandevine20/qa0tg4on4og0jneb/wish/2139942207 Action seandevine20 https://padlet.com/seandevine20/qa0tg4on4og0jneb/wish/2140294622 One tactic we will use to spread our campaign is a social media campaign. We have made an infographic that outlines the problems we see with the HousingTO plan and our proposed solution in a succinct and shareable way. It will also have the emails and phone numbers of a few of the members of City Council that we hope to reach with our message. We will share it on facebook, instagram and twitter where it will hopefully be shared by people and community groups who agree with the cause. This is a very cheap and effective method to spread the campaign. 
Another online tactic we will use is to create a petition. Hopefully from our infographic we will have a fair amount of city residents agree with us and realize that the out of control housing market is being perpetuated by City policies. With a petition we will be able to show City Council that a significant amount of people care about this issue and the ways they are mishandling it. This will put pressure on them to make changes to their HousingTO plan because they will realize if they don't they will risk losing the support of their constituents.
Our face-to-face tactic will be to participate in committee meetings with our target committees and to include ourselves in the Housing Now and Inclusionary Zoning consultations with the City. We will bring supporters, especially people most affected by the policy, to speak directly to the councillors who are involved in the City's plans for building new affordable housing so we can voice where we feel their plans are inadequate in regards to housing the homeless. We will be able to say that we feel their timeline is too distant and that their plans for affordable housing neglects to aid the deeply poor in finding accessible housing. With this tactic we can be certain they hear what we have to say.]]> 2022-04-12 04:52:20 UTC https://padlet.com/seandevine20/qa0tg4on4og0jneb/wish/2140294622 What does success mean? seandevine20 https://padlet.com/seandevine20/qa0tg4on4og0jneb/wish/2140982306 Success in our campaign would be reached if the City Council and specifically the Planning and Housing Committee revised their HousingTO plan to include much better provisions for the homeless population. This would mean providing 10,000 ACCESSIBLE and low barrier housing units, which would be 25% of the 40,000 new affordable units that the City plans on building. These homes would specifically be directed to those with no income, or credit history, and would take a Housing First approach.
Once the homeless population is housed in a dignified way, the remainder of the  new housing created should be offered at rates below market prices to create affordable housing for those who are working but still remain below the poverty line. Success would also come from informing the residents of the City about this ongoing issue of homelessness and giving them an understanding of how this problem is created and worsened by government policy.]]> 2022-04-12 15:05:38 UTC https://padlet.com/seandevine20/qa0tg4on4og0jneb/wish/2140982306 Our Timeline irisaconstantin https://padlet.com/seandevine20/qa0tg4on4og0jneb/wish/2141724411 The ongoing battle to change City policies and plans to include the homeless population may take years, but we are hoping that our campaign would help to propel this movement forward through education and advocacy. We would like to see the City of Toronto build 10,000 new accessible homes specifically for the homeless population between 2-5 years. The Campaign would run on social media until the municipal government made a clear plan and directive for housing those living under the poverty line permanently. ]]> 2022-04-13 01:33:38 UTC https://padlet.com/seandevine20/qa0tg4on4og0jneb/wish/2141724411 References seandevine20 https://padlet.com/seandevine20/qa0tg4on4og0jneb/wish/2141725416 (2015). BlogTO: All of Toronto city council is alleged to have accepted donations from developers. Acorn. https://acorncanada.org/blogto-all-toronto-city-council-alleged-have-accepted-donations-developers

Modular Home Initiative. City Of Toronto. https://www.toronto.ca/community-people/housing-shelter/affordable-housing-developments/modular-housing-initiative/

Housing Now. City of Toronto. https://createto.ca/housingnow/

(2019). HousingTO Action Plan. City of Toronto. https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/94f0-housing-to-2020-2030-action-plan-housing-secretariat.pdf]]> 2022-04-13 01:34:34 UTC https://padlet.com/seandevine20/qa0tg4on4og0jneb/wish/2141725416