A Precise Prescription For Ending Homelessness — And It’s Not Clearing Encampments

laptop with arm and hand coming out of the monitor. The hand holds a paper bearing the word

Here is a report about fixing the homelessness crisis. Unlike many articles, this one does not recommend clearing encampments and moving people on1.

This report is about protecting the existing supply of deeply affordable housing and adding to it.  It starts with a diagnosis of gaps in the regulatory system that allow deeply affordable housing to operate in a shadow world, then wink out of existence and tip people into homelessness. It also provides a very precise set of tools to fix the problem.

The setting for this report is Toronto. The writing team and the group that guided the report’s research were not city employees. The arms-length relationship is part of a decades long effort to ensure there are enough deeply affordable homes for people who need them. The external viewpoint helps to highlight the gaps in the existing system.

The method and the findings could be useful in other communities. Read more at the Neighbourhood Land Trust: Fixing the Leaky Bucket: A Comprehensive Policy & Program Framework to Preserve Toronto’s Supply of Deeply Affordable Housing

Footnotes

  1. If you haven’t come across this sordid solution, try this recent example in Chula Vista, California: Unhoused? Welcome To The Lemming-Land Of California.