Social Policy in Ontario

Philanthropy an untapped affordable housing resource

Posted on October 6, 2016 in Inclusion Delivery System

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TheStar.com – Opinion/Commentary – Social impact investing like this is just one way community philanthropy can help create more affordable housing.
Oct. 6, 2016.   By SHARON AVERY

What can help fix Toronto’s affordable housing crisis?

Philanthropy.

In fact, like no other pillar in the city’s poverty reduction strategy, our creaking, in-high-demand stock of affordable housing is ripe for Toronto’s new philanthropic leaders.

At Toronto Foundation we call them city-building philanthropists. It’s part of “the New Philanthropy,” a trend community foundations are watching and leading. It’s driven by needs, not accolades, is eager to respond quickly, and is ready to sit at the tables previously occupied solely by people from government and non-profit.

This week’s release of the 15th Toronto’s Vital Signs report lays bare the glaring issue of poverty in our great city. Today, for more than 64,000 Torontonians poverty is their lived experience. In fact, five of the 15 federal ridings (2013) with the highest rates of child poverty are in Toronto. One measure of hunger is food bank visits. Last year food bank use continued to shift out of the downtown core to the inner suburbs where it has grown by close to 50 per cent.

Even worse, the incidence of child poverty has hovered between 27 per cent and 32 per cent for close to 20 years. Think about that: one in four Toronto kids is brought up in poverty. That should be concerning anywhere. In a region that ranks fifth out of 24 global metropolitan areas on prosperity, it’s completely unacceptable.

On the housing front, our waiting list for social housing continues to grow. Yet fewer families are being housed. In 2014, 3,100 applicants were housed and one year later the number dropped to 2,500. This can’t continue.

But the city alone cannot solve the complex issue of poverty — simply because it’s so complex. Being able to live in a home you can afford is one of the most powerful levers to move people out of poverty. For low income Torontonians in a city whose housing prices now worry even the International Monetary Fund, housing as a proportion of personal expenses is alarmingly high. Beyond the huge issue of money, stable, affordable housing brings what every city needs: dignity, confidence and well-being to families who have to struggle to meet basic needs.

There’s no easy answer to this. But there is one answer at hand.

At Toronto Foundation we have started to bring the power of community philanthropy to the challenge. Earlier this year our board of directors approved a $6-million pilot project in social impact investing. Community foundations across Canada are sitting on endowment assets worth $8 billion.

Traditionally, these investments have been made in market instruments that generate the greatest financial returns. This is because a foundation’s very structure depends on a permanent source of capital. From this we can generate interest each year to forever support the community’s ongoing charitable needs. But we’ve also learned that the capital can — on its own — generate very real social returns as well as financial ones. By partnering with Habitat for Humanity GTA, Toronto Foundation has made a $1.5 million loan to jump-start its largest residential property ever, providing new homes for 50 families.

Social impact investing like this is just one way community philanthropy can help create more affordable housing. There are many more creative solutions when all of us rise to the challenge.

Should we act someday on this? No. Should we act soon? No. We need to act now.

In my first 30 days on the job, I sat at a table of philanthropic leaders convened by Mayor John Tory. We began a conversation about the most pressing needs in our city and the opportunities for philanthropy to play a bigger role in addressing them. For inspiration and direction, Toronto already has a growing set of case studies where philanthropy is working hand-in-hand with government on an urban parks agenda.

But we can’t stop at the start.

Poverty is too big and too complex to leave to government alone to solve. For our part, we will continue to use Toronto’s Vital Signs to keep a strong light on this issue. And later this month we will be releasing a first-time companion report to Toronto’s Vital Signs on the implications for philanthropy. Our aim is to create the conditions for the New Philanthropy to emerge, one that is driven by data, motivated to partner and keen to accelerate the pace of change.

Sharon Avery is president and CEO of the Toronto Foundation.

< https://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2016/10/06/philanthropy-an-untapped-affordable-housing-resource.html >

Tags: housing, ideology, philanthropy, standard of living

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