Mayoral candidates and affordable housing.
Mayoral candidates discussed affordable housing during a debate hosted by Habitat for Humanity at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Candidates: Rob Ford, left, Giorgia Mamoliti, Joe Pantalone, Rocco Rossi, Sarah Thomson and George Smitherman.
Staff photo/ERIN HATFIELD
Atop unpainted plywood platforms, six mayoral hopefuls weighed in on affordable housing at a debate hosted by Habitat for Humanity on May 11.
More than 600 people packed into the auditorium at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) on Bloor Street to hear where the six mayoral frontrunners stood on housing.
“What we wanted to do was raise the level of the debate across the city to include affordable housing and we were successful in doing that tonight,” said Neil Hetherington, chief executive of Habitat for Humanity, following the lively debate. “There are now more than 600 people who are more informed about the issues of affordable housing and I think we got commitments from all six of the leading candidates about providing hope to those in despair.”
The debate touched on topics such as inclusive zoning, freeing up land for affordable housing and reducing the fees a charity such as Habitat has to pay to build affordable housing.
“These are all things, when you package it all together, we can wrap it up and say we can deliver affordable housing if we all partner,” Hetherington said.
The banter over the course of the two-hour debate ranged from heated to humourous. Candidates swung from heckling each other to at one point declaring which of their opponents they “liked.”
Sarah Thomson, who at times during the debate donned a pink hard hat, revealed as a teenager she was homeless for a time and was the only candidate who truly understands what it is like to be under-housed.
George Smitherman, former deputy premier to Premier Dalton McGuinty and a former energy and infrastructure minister, defended his record at the provincial level and said he wanted to continue the discussion around housing.
“I hope over the next five and a half months we have the opportunity for more debates specifically on the topic of housing because this is one of the most crucial issues facing our city,” Smitherman said, adding he has a range of experience that would allow the city to get beyond the talking phase and down to the “nitty gritty”.
Former businessman and Councillor Rob Ford (Etobicoke North) also relied on his political track record. Ford said he has helped out thousands of people on the streets and kids in need and he regularly visits Toronto Community Housing units with a bylaw officer to ensure repairs are being kept up.
“I don’t just talk the talk, I walk the walk,” he said. “Some people may laugh at me for handing out my phone number, but I personally returned every call in 10 years as a councillor, every email.”
Rocco Rossi repeatedly said the answer to affordable housing is not in spending money, but in creating a dynamic economy that provides people with jobs and a means to pay for housing.
Giorgio Mammoliti continued to refer to his record working on housing as chair of the affordable housing committee, repeatedly holding up a copy of Housing Opportunities Toronto HOT Action Plan 2010-2020, adopted by council Aug. 5, 2009.
“I have a plan...it is a 10-year plan, I built it over the last six years,” Mammoliti said. “Allow me to unfold it over the next 10 years, I am ready for it.”
But Joe Pantalone defended the city’s current state, saying that by the way other candidates were talking one might think Toronto was in shambles, but that simply wasn’t the case as far as he is concerned.
“I love this city, this city has been good to me,” Pantalone said. “This city should be proud of what we have done.”
In the end, Hetherington said whomever was successful in their bid to become mayor, Habitat wanted to work with them to create more affordable housing in Toronto.