Dear Ottawa Residents!

Do you find housing increasingly unaffordable in the city of Ottawa?? Do you wish to have things done differently? Homelessness is MAINLY due to lack of housing affordability in the city. In 2016, 1 in 4 households in Ottawa faced affordability challenges! The number of households in core housing need increased dramatically between 2011 and 2016. 

Below you will find a summary of asks and data-driven detailed discussion. To make life easy, in this petition there is:

1. A reference to my deputations at the joint committee, for those who prefer to listen.

2. An executive summary for your convenience.

3. Followed by a more detailed discussion for those who wish to have the full picture.

By signing this petition, we are asking our Ottawa City Council to modify the Housing and Homelessness Plans so to incorporate the requests herein in order to meet the 25% reduction in overall homelessness targeted by the 2020-2030 Housing and Homelessness Plan. We need to utilize the presented data now. We don't need to wait for another term of council to implement these findings into our HHP! Please sign the petition and/or write to city council to demand they ask for more funding and advocate for policy changes to properly address the housing crisis as described herein. The matter will be voted on by city council on March 10, 2021! Together, we CAN make a difference!

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Deputations:

If you prefer watching a video with the details, please follow the link below and fast forward to the time indicated below. Each presentation is 5 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6dmBOLVI8M

My first deputation was at 58:00 regarding the long-range financial plan. 

My second deputation was at 4:36:54 regarding the 2020-2030 housing and homelessness plan.

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Executive summary:

In order to meet the targets defined by council in June 2020, our city must plan to:

1) Construct 50,500 - 56,500 NEW affordable housing units by 2030. (including supportive housing units.)

2) Provide at least 45,000 households with monthly housing subsidies.

3) Create property tax relief or interest-free loan to EXISTING homeowners in core housing need!

4) Ensure ALL senior-led households are lifted from homelessness and core housing need.

5) Ensure that at least 25% of non-senior tenant households receive monthly shelter allowance; 

6) Advocate for policy changes at the local level as well as the provincial and federal levels as explained below.

7) Continuously consider alternatives to fixing the funding emergency shelters get.

8) If the funding to the emergency shelters is fixed - as recommended by presented LRFP-, the city must:

a) Set conditions and terms that emergency shelters must meet;

b) Review the outcomes of this step on a yearly or council term basis;

c) Maintain the right of the city to withdraw from the agreement and/or amend terms of participation at any point, and 

d) Not commit to funding the shelters for the bulk of the ten years.

9) Ensure existing stock is in a good state of repair.

10)  Not spend capital funding on energy retrofitting existing buildings. Green measures should be associated with new construction projects only given the scarcity of the available labour force and funding money.

11) Ask the federal and provincial governments for at least $ 16.4 Billion over ten years for new construction of affordable housing; provision of housing subsidies; and operation costs. This funding request is based on the CMHC funding to OCH in Sep. 2020 and our city's requests in the LRFP for operational costs. It is important to keep in mind that these estimates are based on data from 2016, pre-pandemic, which means the need could actually be under-estimated. 

If we don't tell the federal and provincial governments what our REAL needs are, we will NEVER get them! We ask our city council to take the opportunity to inform the federal government of our needs as the federal budget is being developed. We MUST PUT PEOPLE FIRST if we want to get things right! Canada has signed UN-SDGs, and the first of them are HUMAN-CENTERED. It is our combined duty to let the federal government know what we need to meet our national and international obligations. The shortage of labor should not act as a barrier to providing the required housing, but rather should be considered as another potential source for economic development post-pandemic.  Failing to plan the next ten years will put more people at risk of homelessness and increase the burden on all residents as the city finds it more challenging to adequately address the problem. The aftermath of this plan, or lack of, will affect many generations to come. Our Ottawa, Ontario and Canada will NOT prosper with an impoverished, homeless or at risk of homelessness population!  We don't need to wait for another term of Council to correct what has already been brought to our attention. The Human costs and financial costs associated with these shortcomings should not be underestimated.

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Detailed Discussion:

In Nov. 1998 Ottawa city council at the time passed a motion to urge the federal government to declare housing as a national disaster! The governments then turned to municipalities and said "OK, you know your situation best, you know how many are homeless, at risk, etc. You create your own plans!" Unfortunately, since then, municipalities have failed to let the upper tier governments know their REAL needs; planning based on available funding and previous development data, instead of planning based on the actual needs of their communities. If we want to change the outcome for our residents, we have to change how we address the problem! 

In June 2020, our Council told us that we aim to reduce 25% of overall homelessness in the city of Ottawa between 2020-2030.  We were told that we aim to end unsheltered homelessness; chronic homelessness; seniors' and veterans' homelessness and reduce aboriginal homelessness by 25% by 2030. 

On Mar. 2, 2021, Finance and Economic Development (FEDCO) and Community and Protective Services (CPS) joint committee were presented with the Long-Range Financial Plan as well as the 2020-2030 Housing and Homelessness Plan. While having a Long-Range Financial Plan is a step in the right direction, the plan falls short to actually ask for what our residents need to face the housing challenges in our city! In addition to having a significant mistake in the numbers presented, the presented plan proposal will NOT allow Ottawa to achieve any of the proposed targets. Our current Long-Range Financial Plan is only asking for $ 1.025 Billion; and aims to bring between 5,700-8,500 new affordable housing options (new construction and subsidies) over ten years!!  However, the estimates are not based on actual needs of our community! These estimates were based on what staff deemed to be possible based on historical data and existing capacity. Additionally, they don't take into account COVID19 impacts on construction costs.  By listening to delegations present at the joint committee and questions asked by councilors, it is evident that our city did not have the proper input data into the development of the housing and homelessness plans. They simply had no idea of the number of households that must be helped, or the units that must be constructed, to make a dent and a tangible change in the current housing crisis. I provided this information at the joint committee, and you'll find it herein. Our Housing and Homelessness Plans (HHP and LRFP) must be modified to address the housing crisis in light of this information. We don't need to wait for another council term to utilize the presented information we have now!

One of the data sources used to plan is the number of households in core housing need. A household in core housing need is defined as:

i) a household that is facing either affordability; suitability; adequacy; or a multiple of these challenges.  

ii) the household does not have sufficient income to address these challenges on its own.

So if the household has an income that is above the income threshold, it is not considered in core housing need even if it is facing any of the challenges outlined in (i).  In Ottawa, in 2016, there were more than 90,000 households facing affordability challenges! That is 1 in 4 households! However, when considering (ii) the number of households in core housing need is about half of that. What will happen if the household loses that income for whatever reason?? (e.g. retirement; loss of ODSP; loss of job)

Based on CMHC data on households in core housing need in Ottawa in 2016, Ottawa witnessed a significant increase in the number of households in core housing need:10,450 extra households compared to 2011. The composition of these additional households was as follows:

a) More than one third of the 10,450 households were senior-led households! The majority of these households are senior women!! Recent studies have showed that across Canada seniors are accessing the emergency shelters more, and staying there longer.(*) Is this where we want our seniors to retire?? We need to ensure we protect the dignity of ALL of our seniors and their ability to age in their neighborhoods. To do so, we must provide ALL senior-led households with monthly subsidies or property tax reliefs to help senior tenants and homeowners to age with dignity! Additionally, our city should advocate for policy changes to have the conditions for CPP, OAS and other senior benefits changed and the overall amounts increased. In 2016, we had more than 16,100 senior-led households in core housing need, with almost one third of them were homeowners!! The support to senior-led homeowners could also be an interest-free loan that is due when the house is sold.

b) Another third of the increase was in non-senior family households; and that newcomer families constituted the majority of this increase! Considering that over the past two decades, almost one third of Ottawa's new immigrants were in core housing need, for a total of about 6,000 newcomer households over ten years. We should aim to have enough affordable housing for them!! This will be best for all of us, as we integrate the newcomers into our Canada and they become more positively involved in our economy!

c) The remaining one third of the increase was non-senior singles!! This has affected both men and women equally. Our city should advocate to have the minimum wage increase; OW and ODSP; EI and other social safety net supports increase to allow the singles to live with dignity, respect and prevent them from falling between the cracks. In addition, our city should advocate to have the recipient of any social support to be able to make more money before they lose their social support. Moreover, monthly shelter allowance given to singles by the city should be increased from the $250/month in order to help them secure housing! 

d) Based on immigration status the increase was distributed as: 60% non-immigrant households; 28% newcomers; 9% aboriginal; and the remaining was other immigrants (i.e. not newcomers).

e) Additionally, we have witnessed an increase in the number of homeowner households in core housing need over the past two decades. To address this problem, we need to aim to provide monthly allowance or property tax reliefs to EXISTING homeowners ONLY. Again, this support could also be an interest-free loan that is due when the house is sold.

While providing monthly shelter allowance would be essential to meeting the needs of our at risk population right now, this solution should be used as a short term solution, and must not be depended on for 10 years!  The following are what we NEED to do, to achieve the set targets:

1) To reduce overall homelessness by 25% we must ensure that those who are currently housed, continue to be housed. At least 45,000 monthly subsidies will be required: 20,000 pre-existing; 25,000 new to meet the 25% reduction goal.

2) While average monthly shelter costs in Ottawa increased by 49%, the median income increased by 31% between 2001-2016!   To reduce overall homelessness by 25%, and protect the dignity of our fellow citizens, we must ensure our city council advocates to change the basic policies that are leading our residents to be at risk of homelessness in the first place. (OAS; minimum wage; OW; ODSP; EI; etc.) By addressing these policies, we will ensure that less people fall between the cracks and less people turn to the city for support.

3) To reduce overall homelessness by 25%, we must ensure we build sufficient stock to address 25% of the problem. Construction of 50,500 - 56,500 new units over 10 years will be required as detailed below:

a) We have more than 17,000 aging affordable housing stock which we need to plan to replace before we have no choice but to let people out onto the streets. We must ensure we maintain them, but we must also ensure that we are building sufficient stock to replace them. Can you imagine what will happen to the 17,000+ households currently living in these homes should they be lost for whatever reason??

b) Additionally, we have more than 12,000 households who are currently receiving monthly housing allowances. If no further funding is secured for them, the current funding can only support them till March 2022. We must build 12,000 new affordable units to ensure they have a permanent long term solution!  While providing monthly allowance can help households NOW, it must be viewed as a short term solution, and we must aim to provide permanent new housing stock to house them all. The monthly shelter allowance will not keep up with the pace of the increases in shelter costs over the years, and the number of families helped with the same funding will decrease.

c) Pre-COVID19 our city was anticipated to have 18,000-19,000 units shortage by 2031, we need to at least plan to cover 25% of that shortage, which translates into 4,500 - 4,750 new units.

d) Our city's homeless population is more than 8,000 people. we must plan to build sufficient housing to house them all. We need to have up to 8,000 new units to address the needs of today's homeless population and which must include supportive housing units.

e) Considering the number of non-senior households in core housing need, we need to at least build enough housing to address 25% of the tenants in core housing need. We should build 9,000 units.

f) It is also imperative that we address aboriginal households in core housing need. The number of these households more than doubled between 2001-2016! 

g) As mentioned earlier, over the past decade almost 6,000 newcomer households were in core housing need! If we continue with status quo immigration and housing affordability challenges, it would be anticipated that another 6,000 newcomer households would be in core housing need between 2020-2030.

h) 62% of current purpose-built rental stock in the city was built prior to 1979. Can you imagine what will happen to housing affordability should we fail to replace these units in time?? We must plan to properly address this issue as well through proper planning of our city's Official Plan. We should not just plan for growth, we must plan to replace our aging housing stock. To do so, our city needs to change our current planning policies such that more housing stock in general, and more purpose-built rental stock in particular, are rapidly created to meet the demand of our growing population in such a way to protect the long-term housing affordability in our city. The vacancy rates have been below the healthy 3% for the majority of the past 3 - 4 decades!! We don't just need affordable housing, we need all kinds of housing!! And we need housing NOW, not 5-7 years down the road.  Protecting housing affordability is not something that must be left to the NGOs to do! Collaborating with the private sector and upper tier government (through planning policy changes) is a must to solve the crisis. 

5) The city should continuously consider alternatives to fixing the funding emergency shelters get.

6) If the funding to the emergency shelters is fixed - as recommended by the presented LRFP-, the city must:

a) Set conditions and terms that emergency shelters must meet;

b) Review the outcomes of this step on a yearly or per term basis;

c) Maintain the right of the city to withdraw from the agreement and/or amend terms of participation at any point, and 

d) Not commit to funding the shelters for the bulk of the ten years.

7) Ensure existing stock is in a good state of repair.

8) Considering the scarcity of the funding and labour force, our city must not energy retrofit existing buildings. Green measures should be associated with new construction projects only to maximize our human and financial capital returns.

Conclusion:

Our city's Long-Range Financial Plan is a great first step to ensure our city properly addresses the housing crisis. However, the proposed plan fails to meet the targets, and has major mistakes in its math. The plan was designed based on historical capacity data, however, this should not act as a barrier to providing the required housing. Instead, it should be considered as another potential source for economic development post-pandemic. Failing to plan the next ten years will put more people at risk of homelessness and hinder Ottawa's ability to address the housing crisis in the long-term. It will also impede Canada's ability to meet its national and international obligations under CMHC and UN-SDGs. While these goals are non-binding, our municipalities play a crucial role in informing the upper tier governments of the local needs to achieve these goals and the required commitments to do so. We ask our city council to harness the power of this opportunity to give the upper tier governments a more transparent picture with the more informed asks.

Sincerely,

Salma Al-Shehabi
s.alshehabi@hotmail.com

 

If you want to watch the meeting you can access it by following this link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6dmBOLVI8M

My first deputation was at 58:00 regarding the long-range financial plan. 

My second deputation was at 4:36:54 regarding the 2020-2030 housing and homelessness plan.

Reference:

* Employment and Social Development Canada. Highlights of the National Shelter Study 2005-2016 - Emergency Shelter Use in Canada. 2019. https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/homelessness/reports-shelter-2016.html#h0