The Toronto Community Housing Corp. (TCHC) has a $2.6-billion, 10-year plan to repair hundreds of aging buildings that have fallen into a state of disrepair. This plan relies on all three levels of government. To date, only the City of Toronto has committed its $860-million share; neither the province nor the feds have contributed a cent.
Greg Spearns, President and CEO of TCHC, says, “The logic is compelling. What we are asking for is a one-time investment of $50,000 a unit to fix our homes and that compares with a cost of $250,000 to $300,000 per unit if we have to shut them down and rebuild. It makes smart economic sense as well as being extremely socially responsible.”
Stop – does this sound familiar?
The TDSB has a $3.5 Billion backlog of repairs on its 600 buildings. Only at the moment, there is no plan to address this issue fully so TDSB is schools are falling into a further state of repair. We should be watching this TCHC example closely to see if there if anything can be learned that could apply to the TDSB. One thing is certain, to address the magnitude of repairs at the TDSB is going to require multiple levels of government working together.