Toronto Community Foundation (left) joined the panel: (l-r) Professor David Huchanski, Associate Director, Research, Cities Centre, University of Toronto; Professor Duncan Maclennan, School of Geography and Geosciences, University of St. Andrews, Scotland; Jeff Evenson, Director, Centre for the Development of Community Assets, Canadian Urban Institute; and Moderator Derek Ballantyne, former CEO, Toronto Community Housing for a photo.

Social housing is about more than helping people. It’s tightly connected to the economy. And until housing providers, tenants and advocates start making that point loud and clear, senior governments will continue to see housing as a burden and a cost and refuse champion long-term strategies for more and better housing.

That’s the key focus of “Housing For the Toronto Economy,” a landmark study by Professor Duncan Maclennan, an international expert on the development of cities, the renewal of neighbourhoods and the economics of housing. The report, commissioned by Toronto Community Housing and the Toronto Community Foundation, was launched at the University of Toronto’s Munk Centre on Tuesday, May 26. Professor Maclennan’s report is available online.

In one of his final events before his departure from Toronto Community Housing, Derek Ballantyne served as the moderator. The panel consisted of Professor David Hulchanski, Associate Director of Research at the Cities Centre, University of Toronto; Jeff Evenson, the Director of the Centre for the Development of Community Assets, Canadian Urban Institute; and report author Professor Duncan Maclennan, School of Geography and Geosciences, University of St. Andrews, Scotland.

The discussion centred on how strong housing systems are key to our national and international competitiveness. Housing policies influence employment, incomes, economic stability and long-term growth and productivity. For example:

• Under housing tenants has a negative impact on children’s ability to learn, compromising the city’s ability to train and educate our future innovators and leaders
• Poor quality housing hurts people’s health, which has a negative impact on workforce productivity
• Bad urban planning, that segregates poverty in certain neighbourhoods, influences the reality and perception of crime and security in a community, and by that hinders job opportunities and economic development
• Sprawl creates congestion and environmental pollution, which costs cities and saps growth and productivity