Housing Unit Status Update
Our Housing Unit
Established in July of 2023, Ombudsman Toronto’s Housing Unit investigates and reviews the planning and delivery of the City of Toronto’s housing services, policies, and programs to make sure they are fair and uphold Torontonians’ human right to adequate housing. The unit:
- Carries out systemic investigations and systems reviews and makes recommendations to help the City fulfil its housing rights obligations
- Advocates at a systems level for the right to adequate housing
- Engages with the public, community organizations, and all levels of government to share information and best practices, and to better understand the housing-related challenges they face
- Offers advice and acts as a sounding board to City staff
What We’ve Done So Far
In less than a year, we have:
- Hired Toronto’s first Deputy Ombudsman (Housing) and fully staffed the unit
- Developed its infrastructure
- Launched two systemic investigations
- Provided numerous consultations to City staff
- Met with 170+ people through our engagement work
- Developed a framework that uses the concept of housing as a human right to guide our investigations
What We’ve Heard
Some of the concerns we’ve heard about include:
- Homelessness and shelter services (e.g., shelter conditions)
- Social housing administration (e.g., difficulty with the new rent-geared-to income housing offer process through the City’s new online portal)
- Property standards (e.g., enforcement of property standards, RentSafeTO)
- Planning and development (e.g., the process for demolitions & renovictions of rental units)
- Affordable housing (e.g., zoning & planning issues impeding the development of affordable housing)
What’s Next
As we look ahead, we will continue to listen to and learn from those most affected by housing precarity and homelessness to ensure they are centred in the City’s work and to help identify further systemic investigations and reviews.