TCH approves $2.5B budget for 2015
Posted December 16, 2014 10:03 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The board of Toronto Community Housing announced on Tuesday that it had approved a $2.5-billion budget for 2015 and said it was confident that $1.7-billion of that will come from the provincial and federal governments.
But if it doesn’t arrive, the agency warns 10,000 residents could lose their homes.
Although the $860 million in funding coming from the City of Toronto is a go, the same amount of money expected from both Queen’s Park and Ottawa is still under discussion.
President and interim CEO Greg Spearn says TCH can’t make do without that funding.
“We’ve done the third party assessment and that cumulative effect is that without federal and provincial support we will have 4,000 units in critical shape in five years,” he said.
Spearn says there is a willingness within the upper levels of government to find a financial solution and the board is optimistic.
He said that cuts will have to be made if the funding isn’t secured.
“We’re doing everything we can to avoid having to shut down more units,” he said. “If we are unable to secure the correct funding we will be able to work through a portion of 2016 but then we’ll have to cut back on our repair program significantly.”
The repair budget was approved for 2015 at $175 million, up from $128 million last year.
The capital and operating budgets include money for front-line workers, improved building security, repairs to elevators, leaky roofs, aging boilers and generators as well as foundation repairs.
