Coalition to Protest Against Mayor's Call for TCHC Tenant Directors To Step Down

Sunday, March 6, 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Coalition to Protest Against Mayor's Call for TCHC Tenant Directors To Step Down

The Coalition to Protect Toronto Community Housing Corp. (TCHC) will hold a protest and press conference on Monday, March 7th at 1pm at 931 Yonge St. to rebuff calls from Mayor Rob Ford that TCHC's elected Tenant Directors resign.

The Coalition believes that it is imperative that these two directors remain on the board in order to ensure continuity of tenant representation at the Toronto Community Housing Corporation. If they are in fact removed from the board, the Coalition contends that tenant representation will soon become non-existent.

The two have been elected by tenants to serve a full term up to December 31, 2011. Even though the City has ultimate control over who serves on the Board, none of the tenants who voted had an expectation that their elected directors would be terminated early without cause or without fault found.

"In fact," says Danish Ahmed, leader of the Party for People with Special Needs and former TCHC tenant, "We call on the two of them to serve as interim co-chairs on the board of TCHC."

In November 8, 2010 and January 1, 2011, the two directors made a pair of requests to Doug and Rob Ford that an equivalent of Baltimore's CitiStat accountability program be established in Toronto, starting with TCHC. The program would save hundreds of millions of dollars and would ensure accountability at TCHC on a bi-weekly basis. Mayor Ford ignored this request and called on the tenant directors to resign.

The Party for People with Special Needs is a leading voice in the Coalition, and its leader points to the CitiStat proposal as an example of the tenant directors' dedication to accountability at Toronto Community Housing Corporation.
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2007/04/pdf/citistat_report.pdf

"The removal of the two elected directors would spark discontinuity at TCHC. The pair have shown that they are committed to serving their tenants and the City competently," Ahmed says. "Our proposal is that they be appointed interim co-chairs to bring the innovations they have recommended for accountable government to Toronto."

Further information on the Coalition and its protest can be found at:
http://specialneedsparty.blogspot.com/

For media requests regarding the coalition, contact Danish Ahmed
at 647-439-5011 or cell 416-500-0216 or coalition@ppsn.on.ca

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Dale Goldhawk Live Tonight: One of the remaining TCHC board members

I know one of the board members -- Dan King -- and he's on Dale Goldhawk Live tonight at 9 pm to set the record straight. He has refused to resign.

Here's what he's sent around:

ON TV Tonight!
Program: Dale Goldhawk Live
Time: 9pm
Date: Thursday March 3rd, 2011
Channel: 63 in Scarborough
      10 in the rest of Toronto
Dial in to our talk Show!
Dial in #: 416-446-7090 @9pm.- state your opinion!
Topic: "Should we Privatize Public Housing!"

Today, March 3rd 2011 was a dark day for public housing in Toronto.
Today, all of the citizen board members, seven in all, resigned.
This was a week of onslaught in the press about 1% of our spending that we admitted was out of control. We know we have problems in Public Housing.
Additionally, in order to ensure that we got government grants with tight time application deadlines, our staff circumvented the purchasing regulations to make sure TCHC did not lose valuable federal and provincial infrastructure funding.

It is alleged that up to $10 million might have been saved if staff had followed procedures. Up to $300 million might have been lost had staff not met the deadlines.

The mayor is now calling for privatization of public housing.
My first question is, will he also privatize our ...
* Tenant Participation Program
* Tenant Capital budget allocation program
* Social Investment Fund (SIF) grants
* Eviction Prevention Program
* Lesage report: 81 recommendations

Additionally, we are considering tenant social support recommendations stemming out of a demand for change to the Social Housing Reform Act, TCHC's mandate.

I am open to this discussion as long as it includes the valuable programs above, programs that we already have. I wonder if the mayor is?
He may make a guest appearance on our show, tonight at 9pm.
Come and see your tenant board members, Dan King and Catherine Wilkinson, on TV Tonight.
We have not resigned.
...Dan King, TCHC Tenant Board Member