Like the people she serves, Inn From the Cold executive director Ann Watson recalled the difficulty of finding a new home for her Newmarket-based shelter facility.
Speaking on a panel at a United Way of Greater Toronto event in Newmarket, Watson recounted how the shelter was faced with an expiring lease and rental costs rising 500 per cent over 10 years.
But finding a new place to lease that could suit their needs was far from easy, Watson said, with many spaces for rent ill-suited to help individuals experiencing homelessness.
“Probably most impactful was we couldn’t find any landlords that were really interested in leasing to us," Watson said.
United Way is sounding the alarm about the dangers of community organizations running out of spaces they can afford. After releasing a report entitled Real (Estate) Solutions for Community Needs in October highlighting the issue, the organization hosted a panel discussion and display in partnership with York Region at its atrium building Jan. 7.
The report, done in partnership with the University of Toronto, highlights how community and social service agencies face challenges in finding real estate and space to continue serving people in need, such as those experiencing homelessness. About 70 per cent of agencies in the GTA, including York Region, lease their properties. About one-third of agencies have an “unhealthy occupancy cost,” the report said, meaning they are spending more than 10 per cent of their budget on rent.
United Way vice-president of community infrastructure Ruth Crammond said they wanted the report to shed light on an “invisible challenge,” with the community service sector similarly experiencing the challenges of high rent that many of its clientele do.
“That network of services is at risk of not being able to keep up with the service demands,” she said, adding that there is an opportunity for the growing York Region to start planning to provide spaces for these community groups. “Let’s build community centres. Let’s build places for kids to meet after school … We don’t just build housing. We also build community.”
Watson recounted that, ultimately, Inn From the Cold found success in building a new home for ownership instead of leasing, though it had to get support from every level of government, along with the public, to make it happen.
Watson said there is hope in a path to more ownership of buildings. But she said the burden of the planning process was also difficult to navigate. She said it could have been made simpler, and municipalities could stand to provide someone to help walk non-profits through the planning process.
“This area is important enough, and not-for-profits can play a huge role in solving a lot of the crises that our communities are facing,” she said. “I love our development consultant, I’m not sure that’s the best use of our money. We’re not developers … Our only skin in this game is to make our community better.”
Matti Siemiatycki, University of Toronto director of the Infrastructure Institute at the School of Cities, said Inn from the Cold’s story highlights that the path to ownership is not an easy one. He suggested municipalities could make the planning process easier to help developments like Inn from the Cold’s new facility come through.
“It’s going to require collaboration across sectors. The non-profits alone cannot bear that degree of risk,” he said. “It can’t just be done by fundraising … It also requires all the orders of government playing along and being part of this.”
To help address the problem, United Way plans to build 10 new community hubs in the GTA over the next 10 years, including in York Region.
About 45 people attended the event. Crammond said she was overwhelmed by the participation, and it shows there is quite a bit of interest and concern about the issue.
In York Region, she said she hopes the event can spur momentum on joint projects with the region and local municipalities.
“We want community agencies and all the people in the room to be inspired by the possibilities,” Crammond said.
The report is available here.
