Hi Glen,

I live on Simcoe street and was part of DMSMCA's housing committee for over a year, though I haven't had time to participate recently. I was hoping to raise the issue of housing at the AGM the other day, but I think the "questions & comments from the floor" agenda item was skipped over. At least I won a Tofurkey!

I always tried to raise the issue with the committee, and by the end Heather Stewart was starting to share my concerns as she tracked the disappearance of over 100 units of affordable housing from our neighbourhood over 18 months alone. Since then we've plunged into a serious housing crisis, with an 0.7% vacancy rate.

As far as I know no concrete action has been taken by the DMSMCA to address this, apart from passive membership in the Right to Housing Coalition. I think this needs to happen, or the DMSMCA will face serious credibility problems, as it appears to be serving the needs of property-owning, more affluent residents at the expense of poorer people and tenants, who still make up the majority of the neighbourhood while being severely underrepresented within the DMSMCA.

Can you provide me with any details about how this is being addressed in the upcoming five year plan, or in other ways by the housing committee? I would like if there were some way in which I could contribute, though I'm going to be mostly unavailable starting September.

Thanks for your time,

Macho Philipovich