Chow calls on feds for more funding as applications reopen for rental supplements

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow again called on the federal government Monday for more funding to address the city's housing crisis, as she announced that applications have reopened for a program that aims to help find homes for people living in shelters or on the street.

Last week, the city and provincial governments signed an agreement to jointly invest an additional $13.4 million in the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit (COHB), which provides rental supplements and helps match applicants with available homes.

At a news conference, Chow said the one-time top-up of funds will help 1,350 people find a place to live, including many recently arrived refugee claimants and asylum seekers. 

"The refugee crisis situation is getting worse," Chow told reporters. She noted that until recently, about 50 per cent of the applicants who received funding through COHB since its creation in 2020 were refugees. That figure is now up to 70 per cent, she said. 

Meanwhile, refugees and asylum seekers make up between 35 and 50 per cent of Toronto's 9,000 shelter residents on any given night, she added. Since last month, at least three Toronto churches have taken in hundreds of asylum claimants, primarily from African countries, who were denied access to the city's overwhelmed shelter system. 

Annual COHB funding is usually split by the federal and provincial governments, with Ottawa covering two-thirds and the provinces one-third of the total cost. This fiscal year, Toronto exhausted it's annual allotment of those dollars by May, the city noted in a release that accompanied Chow's news conference.

Chow said the federal government should immediately come to the table with an additional $26 million for the program, given the strain on Toronto's shelter system and financial resources caused by a continuing influx of refugees and asylum seekers. 

"This is clearly a federal responsibility and we need their help," she said. 

Earlier this year, Chow and city council called on both the federal and provincial governments to contribute $20 million each to COHB, amounts that are justified given the size and scope of Toronto's housing crisis, Chow said. 

While the province eventually agreed to another $6.7 million, Ottawa has thus far refused to provide further money. Chow said there has been "quite a bit of conversation" about the issue but no deal has been made with Ottawa.

Property owners with vacant units can register at toronto.ca/donate if they are interested in offering homes to COHB applicants, the city said in its news release.

"The rent will be paid," Chow noted.

Anyone who wishes to apply for rental supplements can do so here.

Chow's call for further federal financial support comes in the wake of a staff report last week that painted a grim picture of Toronto's fiscal future without additional revenue tools and revised funding agreements with other levels of government.