United Way planning 10 new Toronto community service hubs in 10 years

United Way Greater Toronto is committing to raising and spending $100 million to build 10 new community hubs over the next decade. 

The non-profit created the community hub model 15 years ago to house programs for things like youth mental health, legal services for newcomers and after-school programs under a single roof, says Ruth Crammond, United Way vice president of community infrastructure.

The new hubs are one strategy to combat high commercial rent costs that put essential community services at risk of closing or having to move to less accessible locations, she told CBC Radio's Metro Morning on Wednesday. 

"We're worried about people getting displaced with rents going up, but we're also worried about the services that they need being displaced," Crammond said. 

"Our community partners [are] worried about losing their space or having difficulty finding space close to where they want to be serving people."

United Way says it's counting on support from committed donors, corporate partners and other community leaders to raise the the $100 million. The plan for the new hubs was announced alongside a new study by United Way Greater Toronto, in conjunction with two research hubs at the University of Toronto: the Infrastructure Institute and the School of Cities.

The study found that 70 per cent of essential community service spaces in Peel, Toronto and York regions are leased, meaning they're vulnerable to the precarious real estate market.

It also found the costs to maintain a brick-and-mortar location have increased for these agencies by 57 per cent over the past decade.

Those numbers are concerning, says Matti Siemiatycki, director of U of T's Infrastructure Institute.

Community agencies need more support, experts say

"[For] many of the organizations that are in leased space, the rents are going up and they're increasingly precarious and in, what we would call in danger of being displaced, or not being able to afford their rent," Siemiatycki said. 

He says it's not just a matter of these agencies finding somewhere cheaper, since having to move or shut down can be detrimental to the neighbourhoods they service. 

"The risk is big and the loss is huge," he said. "These organizations often have provided services over years and decades, and they become the cornerstone of communities."

When agencies do choose to stay in the same location despite increasing rents, Crammond says it can have a negative impact on output. 

"We're funding those organizations and we know that an increasing amount of our funding is going toward rent, rather than actually providing the services that we all know we need," she said.

Siemiatycki says the United Way investment alone isn't enough to address the issue.

"You need municipalities supporting," he said. "You need the provincial government and the feds coming together with money to help deliver these projects."

In a statement to CBC Toronto, a city spokesperson outlined a variety of funding and other support it offers community organizations, including leasing city-owned or city-managed spaces to eligible non-profits at below market rent.

The city also provides lower property taxes to eligible arts and cultural organizations and offers a charitable tax rebate. In May, city council voted to ask the province to implement commercial rent control for small, locally owned businesses.

Crammond says she wants this issue to be just as important to decision makers as other high priority issues.

"We talk a lot about things like transit and traffic and bike lanes," she said. "This network of community services is somewhat invisible but absolutely critical to keeping neighbourhoods vital, to making sure that people who need them can be a part of that neighborhood."