Community Housing a Polarizing Topic

Community Housing a Polarizing Topic

Nobody sure who is most responsible for maintaining it

Toronto, May 31^st – In a random sampling of public opinion taken by The Forum Poll™ among 1035 Toronto voters, the plurality (45%) believes Toronto Community Housing should continue to build and maintain low cost social housing, while more than 4 in 10 (42%) prefer to decommission existing social housing and provide a rent supplement instead. (13%) say they don’t know which option they prefer.

Respondents most likely to say that housing should continue to be built and maintained include those aged 35-44 (46%), 45-54 (47%), or 55-64 (49%), earning $80,000-$100,000 (57%), and living in the Former City of Toronto (50%) or North York (47%).

Respondents most likely to say existing social housing should be decommissioned with a rent supplement provided instead include those aged 34 or younger (43%), 35-44 (43%), or 65+ (43%), earning $20,000-$40,000 (46%), $60,000-$80,000 (49%), and living in East York (54%).

Confusion over which level of government is responsible for community housing

(27%) say that the municipal government is most responsible, (28%) say Provincial, and (27%) say Federal.

Just under 2 in 10 (18%) say they do not know which level of government is most responsible for community housing.

 

“The responsibility for Toronto Community Housing is not particularly well understood by Torontonians, and their opinions on continuing the existing pattern of building and maintaining social housing or decommissioning it in favour of a rent supplement is mixed,” said Dr. Lorne Bozinoff, President of Forum Research.

Lorne Bozinoff, Ph.D. is the president and founder of Forum Research. He can be reached at lbozinoff@forumresearch.com or at (416) 960-9603.