I am David Mitchell, Chair of Toronto Community Housing. I would also like to acknowledge the presence of Derek Ballantyne, our Chief Executive Officer.

Mayor Miller, I would like to thank you and the members of the Committee for providing a forum to speak today about the need to curb gun violence in our city.

For those of you who may not be aware, Toronto Community Housing is the City's public housing provider and the largest developer of affordable housing in the city. We provide housing to more than 164,000 tenants, who represent about 6% of Toronto's population.

Gun violence is a problem that directly impacts some of Toronto Community Housing's communities and the tenants who live in them. It's a very complex problem to tackle because the act of gun related violence serves to perpetuate many of its' underlying causes, things like marginalization, family instability, violence, fear, and poverty.

The fall-out from gun violence is however felt well beyond the communities where these brazen and senseless crimes take place, making gun violence a problem for all of us and one that requires leadership and action on many fronts.

Toronto Community Housing supports Mayor Miller's two-pronged approach for addressing gun violence in Toronto.

Toronto Community Housing's own community safety strategy takes a similar approach combining strong enforcement measures with preventative programs that engage the community and focus on tackling the root causes of the problem.

The report before the committee also introduces a third tactic in the strategy to curb gun violence and that is advocacy - advocacy aimed at raising awareness about the required solutions and getting them implemented.

At its next meeting in May, Toronto Community Housing's Board of Directors will discuss the specific measures outlined in Mayor Miller's report. The Board will also consider what kind of advocacy role Toronto Community Housing might play. Advocating around issues to improve the quality of life in our communities is a priority for our Board.

I said that addressing gun violence requires leadership and action on many fronts. I will spend the balance of my time on what Toronto Community Housing is doing to improve safety in our communities. We focus on three areas - enforcement, prevention and capital improvements.

Enforcement. Our Community Safety Unit has an annual budget of about $12 million dollars. We have patrol officers that walk the communities they are assigned to and there is a mobile team of officers that is on the road 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Almost all of our community safety officers have Special Constable status granted through the Toronto Police Service.

I do want to make and empasize the point that while Toronto Community Housing obviously takes community safety very seriously, it is ultimately the responsibility of the police to deal with criminal activities like gun violence. Toronto Community Housing staff of course collaborate and work closely with many of the police divisions across the City.

Prevention. Toronto Community Housing has a team that works with tenants, the police and the City on crime prevention strategies a lot of which is focused on youth. Last year, Toronto Community Housing began introducing new programs to engage youth. Earlier this year, we hired more youth outreach staff and will continue the expansion of youth programs over the next two years.

Capital improvements. Since 2003, Toronto Community Housing has invested more than $40 million dollars in technology and site upgrades to improve community safety. This includes things like the installation of state-of-the-art surveillance cameras, better lighting and projects that improve outdoor spaces and encourage the community to use them.

To wrap up, I want to make one final but very important point. It's something I could have said at the beginning of my remarks but I don't want it to be forgotten.

It is a fact that Toronto Community Housing communities have a disproportionate amount of gun violence. I tell you this with sadness, anger and a certain level of discomfort.

My sadness and anger require no explanation. My discomfort is this, gun violence, no matter where it happens in this City, is carried out by a relatively small number of people. The overwhelming majority of people who live in Toronto Community Housing communities are not involved with guns. And this includes young people.

Yet, overly simplified media coverage and other public discussions about gun violence often serve to unfairly label whole communities and the people who live there. I say this to you as the chair of Toronto Community Housing and as someone who grew up in Lawrence Heights.

As we debate, advocate and hopefully reduce gun violence in Toronto, it is important that we take the time and acknowledge the complexity of both the problems and the solutions and not perpetuate this stigmatization.

Thank you.