Toronto City Council's modest actions "have hardly put a dent" in poverty reduction, say two former members of the City’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Advisory Committee.

In an op-ed in The Toronto Star, community advocates Michael Polanyi (a community worker at the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto) and Leila Sarangi (Executive Director of Springtide Resources), examine the City's record over the past four years to fund and implement TO Prosperity, the poverty reduction strategy it unanimously adopted in 2015.

Toronto, it's time to defend local democracy!

Join others who care about our city at an important public meeting to raise the voices of Toronto in defense of democracy and a City government that works for all its residents.

Toronto Groups Urge Candidates to Follow Through on City’s Anti-Poverty Commitments

Commitment TO Community and Faith in the City mailed out letters today to over 200 Mayor and Council candidates asking them to support the implementation of City Council commitments on poverty reduction.

“Too many people in Toronto are struggling to make ends meet,” says Adina Lebo, Chair of Commitment TO Community. “Voters want to know which candidates will follow through on City plans to improve access to affordable housing, transit, child care and recreation programs.”

Social Planning Toronto (SPT) is a non-profit, charitable community organization that works to improve equity, social justice and quality of life in Toronto through community capacity building, community education and advocacy, policy research and analysis, and social reporting. Formally known as the Community Social Planning Council of Toronto, SPT has spent over 60 years providing critical social research and reporting, community capacity-building and engagement as well as evidence-based advocacy for Toronto and its communities.

Social Planning Toronto is committed to building a "Civic Society," one in which diversity, equity, social and economic justice, interdependence and active civic participation are central to all aspects of our lives — in our families, neighbourhoods, voluntary and recreational activities, and in our politics.

Social Planning Toronto issued the following response today to Premier Doug Ford's move to reduce Toronto City Council by half. 

We urge you to contact your local Member of Provincial Parliament to express your disagreement with this hasty action against local decision-making, which will have a highly disruptive and confusing affect on this year's municipal election. 

Widespread homelessness and lack of access to adequate housing in a country as affluent as Canada is clearly one of the most critical human rights issues facing all levels of government.

Social Planning Toronto has joined other community organizations and advocates as a signatory to an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, asking them to embed the right to housing in the National Housing Strategy legislation currently being drafted.

Over 130,000 people — a population the size of a small city — do not speak English and face everyday challenges navigating life in the city, a new report from Social Planning Toronto finds. The report finds these residents have diverse and complex language learning needs.

“This population is big, and their needs are as diverse as their stories and backgrounds,” said Peter Clutterbuck, Interim Executive Director of Social Planning Toronto. “These residents are our neighbours, from the young mother at the local park caring for small children, to the grandmother next door — being able to speak English would make a big difference in their quality of life, from finding a good job to accessing services in their community.”

A message from Peter Clutterbuck:

It is with great sadness that I learned that Karen Liberman passed away on Thursday, May 24^th, 2018. Karen was a long-time community activist, planner, workshop presenter and facilitator.

Critics say budget process is badly broken— not equipped to tackle city’s ‘big issues’.

As Toronto City Council prepares to make its final decision on its 2018 budget, a new report by Social Planning Toronto reveals it will fall short by $36 million on funding council’s own pledges on housing, climate change, transit, and poverty reduction.

Wealthy developers will not likely end up helping to pay for affordable housing under new regulations proposed by Ontario’s Minister of Housing, say over 60 community organizations and housing experts. The regulations effectively reverse policy aimed at ensuring developers build affordable housing with each new development— a measure called ‘Inclusionary Zoning’.