Homestarts’ Staff Rally in Support of Affordable Housing

Homestarts’ staff along with hundreds of residents and housing advocates held a rally at Toronto City Hall calling for more investments in affordable housing from the province and federal government. The Close the Housing Gap Rally was co-organized by the City of Toronto, the Co‑operative Housing Federation of Canada (CHFC), the Co‑operative Housing Federation of Toronto (CHFT) and the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC).

The rally was moderated by Councillor Anna Bailao and included a number of speeches, including Deputy Mayor Pam McConnell, CHFT Executive Director Tom Clement, CHFC Ontario Region Council President Nicole Waldron and residents of the city’s co‑ops and TCHC. The speeches highlighted the need for continued provincial and federal funding for affordable housing, and for the federal government specifically to cancel a planned withdrawal of housing subsidies for vulnerable co‑op members.