Ward 5 Coun. Robert Kirwan is looking to Greater Sudbury city council to take on the responsibilities of establishing social housing policies in the city.
At present, these responsibilities have been delegated by council to the General Manager of Community Development and the Manager of Housing Services, which Kirwan says has basically given these positions power of attorney for council when it comes to decisions regarding social housing.
Kirwan is the vice-chair of the Greater Sudbury Housing Corporation, which is the largest housing provider in the city.
"During the past four years I have become very much aware of the social housing crisis as the vice-chair of the Greater Sudbury Housing Corporation, which with 1,848 units is the largest housing service provider in Greater Sudbury," said Kirwan.
"City council is legally responsible for social housing in Greater Sudbury. City council should be making the policy decisions that affect so many of our low-income residents."
Full text of Kirwan's news release can be found below:
One of the major issues facing the new council during the next term will deal with the administration of the Greater Sudbury Housing Services Section which consists of 4,738 units that are provided through about 47 housing service providers across the City of Greater Sudbury.
We also have thousands of individuals and families, many of whom are older adults, on a waiting list that can be as long as five or more years.
During the past four years I have become very much aware of the social housing crisis as the vice-chair of the Greater Sudbury Housing Corporation, which with 1,848 units is the largest housing service provider in Greater Sudbury.
The City of Greater Sudbury city council has been designated as a service manager under the Housing Services Act, 2011. But rather than take responsibility for this role, city council has delegated the rights, duties and responsibilities of Service Manager to the General Manager of Community Development and the Manager of Housing Services.
This means that the manager of Housing Services has the authority to do whatever council would be able to do with respect to establishing new rules and policies for Housing Services. She has basically been given the “power of attorney” for city council and has been exercising that authority at will.
I will be asking the new city council to begin accepting sole responsibility for the establishment of social housing policies that are to be administered through the Housing Services Section instead of delegating it away to staff.
City Council is legally responsible for Social Housing in Greater Sudbury. City Council should be making the policy decisions that affect so many of our low-income residents.
By delegating this authority to the GM of Community Development and the Manager of Housing Services, most of the individual councillors never become aware of the real issues and challenges facing the housing service providers in our city, nor are they aware of the living conditions that some of their own constituents are dealing with every day. Councillors are seldom made aware of the decisions being made on our behalf by the Manager of Housing Services until we receive complaints from constituents.
The practice of delegating the Service Manager authority to the GM of Community Development and the Manager of Housing Services has resulted in a growing number of conflicts with the Board of Directors of the GSHC as well as with many of the Co-operative and Non-Profit housing providers. My proposal is designed to eliminate this adversarial and confrontational climate by involving the City Councillors in the policy making process.
Providing acceptable levels of affordable housing to low income individuals and families is going to be a major challenge for our city moving forward. I feel it is important for members of City Council to be directly involved in all aspects of decision making with respect to this service.
This responsibility for making decisions on policy changes should rest upon the shoulders of City Council.
Staff can implement the policies, but the setting of the policies should be done by Council in fulfilment of its role as the Service Manager. We should no longer be “passing the buck” on this responsibility.
