Responding to a new report released by the United Way of Toronto and York Region, Sean Meagher, Executive Director of Social Planning Toronto, called for public action to counter Toronto’s rising economic inequality:

“The report outlines an overwhelmingly divided City, created by a failure to invest adequately in our neighbourhoods and residents,” said Meagher. “With one-in-four children living in poverty, we have to do better”.

As school returns, Toronto’s students and parents are still coping with a legacy of ‘streaming', finds a new report by Social Planning Toronto. In the process of ‘streaming’, students are grouped into either academic or applied courses, with big impacts on post-secondary options and life outcomes. Unfortunately, evidence shows streaming is impacted by a variety of factors, including neighbourhood and socio-economic factors.

Toronto’s downtown and waterfront condos are now home to thousands of preschool-aged children, finds a new report by Social Planning Toronto. The report reveals the number of preschool-aged children in key downtown census neighbourhoods has more than doubled in ten years—a staggering shift that has childcare and recreation programs overcrowded as the school year comes to a close.

Toronto’s baby boomers are aging and will soon overwhelm our already backlogged city infrastructure, according to a new report released today by Social Planning Toronto. The report reveals a city-wide growth of 40% of seniors aged 60-64 over the last ten years, as well as a striking 53% increase in those over 85 years old.

The Government of Ontario could do more for almost half of Toronto’s workers who deal with precarious work, including temporary and contract workers, a new report says.

The report, released today by Social Planning Toronto, focuses on the benefits that unionization provides for precarious workers, and follows Queen’s Park’s announcement committing to changes to the Employment Standards Act and Labour Relations Act. The new changes will include a $15 minimum wage, equal pay for equal work, and personal emergency leave provisions, but only extends one-step card-based certification to some workers, and provides no changes to allow workers to organize across their sector.

Social Planning Toronto welcomed Ontario’s newly updated Growth Plan as an element in the effort to address the ‘missing middle’ of reasonably priced housing in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. However, critically, its delayed timelines allow for developers to continue to drag their heels on building more affordable units.

In an open letter sent to Mayor John Tory and Toronto City Council, over 90 leaders from the nonprofit and community sector stressed the need to fund already-approved Council strategies including policies set to impact seniors, child care, and poverty reduction, in advance of a critical Budget Committee meeting this week.

Beginning in May, we will be holding a series of policy forums covering a range of issues related to housing in Toronto.

Join us and hear from a panel of leaders on this issue and join in a discussion with housing stakeholders.

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In an open letter to the Hon. Chris Ballard, provincial Minister of Housing, over 30 community and nonprofit housing organizations from across Ontario pressed the Government to follow through on its commitment to implement ‘Inclusionary Zoning’— a policy that enables municipalities to require new developments to include affordable housing.

Social Planning Toronto is an incorporated and registered non-profit, charitable organization dedicated to:

• independent social planning and community development;
• social research and policy analysis;
• community education and advocacy; and
• the development and coordination of human services.

Social Planning Toronto is governed by a 15-person volunteer Board of Directors elected by its individual community and organizational membership at the Annual General Meeting. The Social Planning Toronto’s Annual General Membership Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, April 26^th, 2017 at Artscape – Daniels Spectrum – 585 Dundas St. East. There will be 3 vacancies on the Board of Directors. This is a call for nominations to fill these vacancies at the AGM.