City for All and Social Planning Toronto drafted a joint letter to the Mayor and City Council to voice our support for the new Long-Term Financial Plan and urge City Council to pursue all the proposed options for increasing revenues to fund critical city services and supports. We reached out to community-based organizations to sign on to the letter, collecting over 50 signatures from community and faith-based organizations across the City. Council will be debating and voting on an updated Long-Term Fiscal Plan on September 6, 2023. You can read our letter and see the full list of signatories below.
Dear City Council and Mayor Olivia Chow,
It’s no secret: our city is facing massive financial challenges and people across Toronto are struggling to live here. As community-based organizations and advocates, we are seeing our members and clients face growing inequality, food insecurity, housing precarity, serious health and economic impacts from climate change, and alarming rates of homelessness. The City is no longer affordable or livable for many of the communities we serve, and increasingly unaffordable for our own staff.
We are writing to voice our support for the new Long-Term Financial Plan and urge City Council to pursue all the proposed options for increasing revenues, including adopting new revenue tools, strengthening existing ones, and advocating for greater city powers. We have spent years advocating for investments in neighbourhoods and services that we know will help Torontonians, and an end to austerity budgeting. The new Long-Term Financial Plan is an important step to stem the growing crises facing our City.
After years of leadership that refused to responsibly develop revenue streams to fund a growing city, City Council and its new Mayor have an opportunity to do things differently. We are calling on City Council to embrace new revenue tools and tackle our budgetary crisis head on and demonstrate to other levels of government that Toronto is ready to do its part to rebuild our City. With new leadership and the newly released staff report on revenue tools, this Council now has an opportunity to make better choices.
Every year, including this past winter, many of our community partners took part in the city’s budget process, sharing the sense of desperation that so many of our clients and community members are feeling. We urged City Council to increase funding for supports for unhoused individuals; fund affordable housing; invest in renter protections; expand community crisis response pilot projects; provide programs and services that benefit families; and increase funding for and access to public transit, including an end to TTC service cuts. We were told that it wasn’t possible, that there wasn’t enough money to do it. These needs have not dissipated and have since been exacerbated by growing inflation and high housing costs.
For community-based organizations, coalitions, and nonprofits, this updated long-term financial plan is about more than just getting more money in the City’s bank account. It’s about being able to realize a vision for Toronto where all of our communities, neighbourhoods, businesses, and residents can thrive. We encourage the Mayor and City Councillors to vote in favour of adopting this plan.
Toronto is at a crossroads; this is your chance to set our city on a pathway to address the crises we face today, and plan for a brighter future. Adopting this plan will bring a renewed sense of hope for Toronto. Communities and organizations like ours are ready to help you build a city for all.
Signed,
Jin Huh, Social Planning Toronto
Saman Tabasinejad, Progress Toronto
Emmay Mah, Toronto Environmental Alliance
Lee Soda, Agincourt Community Services Association (ACSA)
Victor W Li, Anglican Diocese of Toronto
Nasima Akter, Bangladeshi-Canadian Community Services
MoonJa Park, Bathurst Finch Seniors Society
Anthony Prakash, Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto, Office for Interreligious Dialogue
Michael Barkley, Climate Action for Lifelong Learners
Climate Justice Toronto
Lyn Adamson, ClimateFast
Talia Bronstein, Daily Bread Food Bank
Maria Christina Conlon, Davenport Perth Community Ministry
Gabrielle Langlois, Davenport Perth Neighborhood and Community Health Centre
Mina Mawani, Dixon Hall
Sunder Singh, Elspeth Heyworth Centre for Women
Brian MacLean, Etobicoke Climate Action
Alison Coke, Etobicoke Services for Seniors (ESS Support Services)
Cameron Watts & John Ryerson, Faith in the City
Brianne Whyte, For Our Kids Toronto
Rita Bijons, Green 13
David Meyers, GTA Disability Coalition
Michelle D'Agnino, Jane/Finch Centre
Lauren Gallacher, Malvern Family Resource Centre
John Joseph Mastandrea, Manor Road United Church
Hannah Crawford, MCIS Language Solutions
Tania Gill, Music Declares Emergency Canada
Leslie Solomonian, Naturopathic Doctors for Environmental and Social Trust
Habeeb Alli, One Love Family Services
Sean Meagher, Ontario for All
Andrea Vásquez Jiménez, Policing-Free Schools
John Campey, Ralph Thornton Community Centre
Rev. Angie Hocking, Regent Park Community Ministry
JJ Fueser, RideFairTO
Right to Housing Toronto
fr. Prakash Anthony Lohale, OP, Ripples of Kindness
Francesca Allodi-Ross, Romero House
Derek Spooner, Scarborough Arts
Krissan Veerasingam, Scarborough Environmental Association
Randy Alexander, St James Town Residents Council
Razia Rashed, Taylor Massey Wellness Council
Bianca Wylie, Tech Reset Canada
Shirley Roberts, The Corner in St. James Town
Rafi Aaron, The Interfaith Coaliton to Fight Homelessness
Bill Sinclair, The Neighbourhood Group Community Services
Bob White, Toronto Area Interfaith Council
Kumsa Baker, Toronto Community Benefits Network
Cathy Nosaty, Toronto East End Climate Collective (TEECC)
Sree Nallamothu, Toronto Neighbourhood Centres
Michelle Joseph, Unison Health and Community Services
Bryan Douthwright, Weston King Neighbourhood Centre
Marcie Ponte, Working Women Community Centre
Sami Pritchard, YWCA Toronto
Louis March, Zero Gun Violence Movement
Jin Huh, Social Planning Toronto
Saman Tabasinejad, Progress Toronto
Emmay Mah, Toronto Environmental Alliance
Lee Soda, Agincourt Community Services Association (ACSA)
Victor W Li, Anglican Diocese of Toronto
Nasima Akter, Bangladeshi-Canadian Community Services
MoonJa Park, Bathurst Finch Seniors Society
Anthony Prakash, Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto, Office for Interreligious Dialogue
Michael Barkley, Climate Action for Lifelong Learners
Climate Justice Toronto
Lyn Adamson, ClimateFast
Talia Bronstein, Daily Bread Food Bank
Maria Christina Conlon, Davenport Perth Community Ministry
Gabrielle Langlois, Davenport Perth Neighborhood and Community Health Centre
Mina Mawani, Dixon Hall
Sunder Singh, Elspeth Heyworth Centre for Women
Brian MacLean, Etobicoke Climate Action
Alison Coke, Etobicoke Services for Seniors (ESS Support Services)
Cameron Watts & John Ryerson, Faith in the City
Brianne Whyte, For Our Kids Toronto
Rita Bijons, Green 13
David Meyers, GTA Disability Coalition
Michelle D'Agnino, Jane/Finch Centre
Lauren Gallacher, Malvern Family Resource Centre
John Joseph Mastandrea, Manor Road United Church
Hannah Crawford, MCIS Language Solutions
Tania Gill, Music Declares Emergency Canada
Leslie Solomonian, Naturopathic Doctors for Environmental and Social Trust
Habeeb Alli, One Love Family Services
Sean Meagher, Ontario for All
Andrea Vásquez Jiménez, Policing-Free Schools
John Campey, Ralph Thornton Community Centre
Rev. Angie Hocking, Regent Park Community Ministry
JJ Fueser, RideFairTO
Right to Housing Toronto
fr. Prakash Anthony Lohale, OP, Ripples of Kindness
Francesca Allodi-Ross, Romero House
Derek Spooner, Scarborough Arts
Krissan Veerasingam, Scarborough Environmental Association
Randy Alexander, St James Town Residents Council
Razia Rashed, Taylor Massey Wellness Council
Bianca Wylie, Tech Reset Canada
Shirley Roberts, The Corner in St. James Town
Rafi Aaron, The Interfaith Coaliton to Fight Homelessness
Bill Sinclair, The Neighbourhood Group Community Services
Bob White, Toronto Area Interfaith Council
Kumsa Baker, Toronto Community Benefits Network
Cathy Nosaty, Toronto East End Climate Collective (TEECC)
Sree Nallamothu, Toronto Neighbourhood Centres
Michelle Joseph, Unison Health and Community Services
Bryan Douthwright, Weston King Neighbourhood Centre
Marcie Ponte, Working Women Community Centre
Sami Pritchard, YWCA Toronto
Louis March, Zero Gun Violence Movement
Take action NOW!
We strongly encourage you to send your own letter to City Council. If we can demonstrate strong support for these funding tools, City Council and the Mayor will feel more confident in bravely adopting a new fiscal plan for Toronto that will fund the services our communities need.
Below is a list of email addresses for all Councillors, the Mayor, and the City Clerk. Please feel free to add your own content, edit, or change the letter above.
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