A few days ago, while visiting a temporary shelter in a North York church, new mayor Olivia Chow invited Toronto residents to rent any extra rooms they might have to asylum seekers.
She told the media at Revivaltime Tabernacle Church – one of two churches temporarily housing 200 asylum seekers – that she hopes residents will offer available rental units at or below the market rate to these asylum seekers through a Donate TO portal.
She also said the $97 million offered by the feds last week for temporary shelter was not enough and that she needs $157 million to pay for the 3,100 refugee claimants now in the system.
She wasn’t the first to raise this crazy idea. New York City Mayor Eric Adams did so a month ago, telling New Yorkers they’d be paid $125/night to do so.
Chow didn’t say while at the north Toronto church – to which she appeared to arrive in an SUV and not on her flowered bike – whether she or any of her fellow councillors would take the lead and offer up some space in their properties.
When I asked her media people at City Hall, I did not get an answer as to whether she was renting out one of her rooms.
I took that to mean she was not, which is par for the course considering our political leaders never seem to feel they should lead by example when they come up with bright ideas.
A city spokesman did tell me that as of July 27, the city has received four offers for available properties – a vacant nursing home (with 45 beds), a one-bedroom condo, eight more one-bedroom condos and about 10-12 apartments.
The spokesman said they‘re still looking for more distinct rental properties, garden suites, or a “spare room or extra space inside one’s home.”
The refugee claimants will be eligible to receive support to pay their rent from the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit, the spokesman said.
I doubt seniors or singles, for example, would be willing to get started with such a naive proposal.
There has been no reference to who carries the liability should these asylum seekers not pay their rent, or trash the place or even worse still, vandalize their lodgings.
This is not to suggest they are any different from all other renters but these are people with no documentation and no credit – and judging how slowly government operates, it could be months before they get any documentation.
There are alternatives, of course, but I doubt Chow or the radical leftists she’s put in her office will ever consider them.
They can, of course, reverse Toronto’s Sanctuary City status and refuse to accept more asylum seekers instead of trying to squeeze money from a stone. The homeless looking for shelter should take precedence.
Alternatively, Chow can look to social housing – namely Toronto Community Housing (TCHC) – to absorb some of the homeless and/or asylum seekers in their units.
A few years ago, I wrote about all the TCHC units sitting empty, a testament to the absolute ineptitude of the housing authority.
At the time, then-Mayor John Tory promised to get on it and ensure as many vacant units as possible were filled.
Little has changed.
A recent TCHC report shows there are 1,792 units considered “non-rentable.”
Why?
Some 169 are being used for recreational purposes, for staff, for agency office use and get this – for contractor storage.
Another 385 need repairs, many of them costing $25,000 or more. Some 24 are out of use because of a fire or flood.
But the lion’s share – 1,166 – are either on hold for relocation purposes, pending demolition and under construction.
Imagine if Chow had even 1,500 units to house asylum seekers, at least temporarily.
She wouldn’t need to beg the feds for more money.
But that’s not how progressives operate.
They’d rather foist their ineptitude on hard-working, taxpaying Toronto residents.
I’m willing to bet one thing.
There won’t be much buy-in by Toronto homeowners.
