In 2022, the congregation embarked on a consultation with other local churches and groups to discern how they could respond to needs in the local community. “We wanted to be mission-minded, but we weren’t sure what direction we should be going in, so we invited our partners in the surrounding community into conversation with us,” says the Rev. Helena-Rose Houldcroft, priest-in-charge.

At the same time, Habitat for Humanity Northumberland was working on plans to create seven net-zero emissions townhomes in the village of Baltimore, north of Cobourg. It would be the largest single development of Habitat for Humanity Northumberland, and the largest net-zero project for Habitat for Humanity in all of Canada. The townhomes, now completed, feature heat pumps for heating and cooling, as well as solar panels that feed electricity back into the grid. The build also incorporates Universal Design, making the units more accessible to people with different abilities.

Inspired by the project and its focus on building not just housing but relationships, parishioners at St. George’s looked for ways to help support the build. “We’re a little church that doesn’t say ‘it can’t happen,’ but rather, ‘how can we make it happen?’” says parishioner Sharon O’Connor-Watters. “We are a congregation of seniors, so we might not be much good on ladders, but we’re known for our food! So, we decided to contribute meals for the volunteers on team-build days.”

St. George’s provided lunches and snacks for the building teams on 14 build days. Deacon Barbara Russell invited other parishes, including St. Peter, Cobourg, St. John the Evangelist, Port Hope and St. Andrew United, Grafton, to participate as well, contributing an additional six days of food.

Cathy Borowec, CEO of Habitat for Humanity Northumberland, estimates that St. George’s saved the teams over $5,000 in meals. “It was great food and a real boost for the volunteer build teams,” she said.

St. George’s also raised funds for the build. The church bought decorated shortbread cookies as part of Habitat’s Thanksgiving cookie drive and handed them out at its Christmas bazaar to help promote the project. In December 2023, Deacon Russell’s husband, Gary Russell, built a scale model of the townhomes in gingerbread, taking first prize at Habitat Northumberland’s Gingerbread Festival fundraiser that year. Part of the prize was a gift certificate for food preparation, which Mr. Russell donated back to Habitat to provide meals for volunteer teams. St. George’s Men’s Breakfast group also ran three pancake brunches. Through these fundraising efforts, the parish raised more than $10,000, in addition to the value of the meals provided. Individual parishioners also made contributions to the project.

While $15,000 is already a significant contribution from a small rural parish, the value of St. George’s contribution went far beyond money. “It wasn’t just about the food or the money, but about building relationships – with volunteers, with Habitat, with other churches, with local representatives, with our neighbourhood,” says Rev. Houldcroft. “When we were serving the food, we were also sitting down with the volunteers and having conversations. We got to meet some of the future residents, and it was such a privilege to hear them talk about what the project meant to them.” The seven families moved into the townhomes this May.

While discussion of Canada’s housing crisis often focuses on urban settings, Deacon Russell stresses that the need is great in rural areas as well. “The price of housing has really gone up. We have family homes being bought up for use as short-term rentals, creating a real shortage of affordable family housing. What’s nice about the Baltimore build is that it’s not some sprawling subdivision taking up arable land, but a compact and family-friendly community.”

Eva Leca, another volunteer from St. George’s, drives by the townhomes regularly. “Each time, it brings me a sense of joy that we helped make it happen,” she says. “Talking about ‘the housing crisis’ or ‘charitable giving’ can be abstract, but this build is local and tangible. For me, and for our parish, it’s important that we direct what we have to needs in our community.”

Rev. Houldcroft says the parish is committed to being involved again, especially if there is another rural build. The project drew together not only those who regularly attend church but the wider community in support of Habitat for Humanity Northumberland, and the parish knows it can build on that wider support.

Asked for advice for other parishes, Deacon Russell says, “Know your strengths, and apply them to your passion.” Rev. Houldcroft agreed, noting that churches can offer gathering places for people to come together and address the needs of the community. “We don’t always use our spaces to their full potential in a way that strengthens communication and interrelatedness. But when you have a space, you can build conversations.”

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After many years of advocacy, we were pleased to see the launch of a national housing strategy in 2017, enshrined in the National Housing Strategy Act of 2019. The act recognizes the importance of housing to the social, economic, health and environmental wellbeing of Canadians, and affirms Canada’s commitment to housing as a human right. At the same time, however, the act follows three decades of lack of public investment in housing, especially in “social” or subsidized housing geared to those living on low and moderate incomes. During that time, the rise of short-term rentals and investment vehicles created to maximize profits from residential housing put additional pressures on the housing market. Meanwhile, public policies that exacerbate housing unaffordability persist at all levels of government.

In fall of 2023, the diocese’s Social Justice and Advocacy Committee presented a motion in support of the human right to housing for parishes to consider at their 2024 vestry meetings. The motion called on the federal government to target subsidies and incentives to projects that met clear conditions on affordability and eviction prevention, as well as to end the favourable tax treatment of real estate investment trusts. It called on the provincial government to extend rent controls and vacancy controls on all rental housing, to restrict above-guideline rent increases, and it urged the province to work with municipalities to enact and enforce restrictions on short-term rentals.

Despite the complexity of this vestry motion, it was widely supported across the diocese. Of the individual calls, the one that attracted the most support was that of closing provincial rent control loopholes, including the exemption on units first occupied as rental housing after 2018, vacancy decontrol, and the lack of restriction on above-guideline rent increases. Seventy per cent of the parishes in the diocese supported the need to close these loopholes.

The strong response to the vestry motion led to further housing advocacy, both by the diocese as a whole and by individual parishes. Several parishes wrote to their local MPPs, outlining their support for stronger rent controls and limitations on short-term rentals. As the Social Justice and Advocacy consultant, I raised these issues in an interfaith conversation between faith group representatives and staff of (then) provincial Housing Minister Paul Calandra, as well as in our response to the 2024 provincial budget. Our diocese joined the non-partisan Fair Rent Ontario campaign (https://fairrentontario.ca/) last fall and was featured as a public endorser of the campaign on its social media on Christmas Eve. We raised housing issues in both of our provincial and federal election resources earlier this year and sent a letter to the Prime Minister and new federal housing minister that outlined our support for greater investment in public and non-profit housing.

Despite sustained advocacy, efforts to shift housing policies have met with limited success. Combined supports from federal and provincial governments have helped create new affordable and supportive housing, and the Canada-Ontario Housing Benefit helps tens of thousands of households across the province maintain a roof over their heads. But Ontario tenants continue to face lack of rent controls in newer units, as well as vacancy decontrol and back-to-back rent increases. Housing starts are well below the province’s own targets, and few of the new units are affordable to low or moderate-income residents.

With static social assistance rates and wages failing to keep pace with rising rents, it is hardly surprising that homelessness has skyrocketed in recent years. A report from the Association of Municipalities of Ontario in January found that homelessness in Ontario had risen 25 per cent from 2022 to 2024 and will get much worse without significant intervention. It is thus discouraging to see the rise of a punitive approach to homelessness, from Barrie City Council’s attempt to criminalize outreach to unhoused people in 2023, to neighbourhood backlash against shelters and supportive housing in Toronto, to the province’s Bill 6, which imposes heavy fines or jail time on people forced to seek shelter out of doors.

Still, Anglicans across the diocese continue to advocate for shelter and housing: speaking out at town halls, sending letters to local council meetings, and contributing funds and volunteer hours to local land trusts that help preserve and maintain affordable housing in their neighbourhoods. Some have created programs to welcome new shelter and supportive housing residents in their communities. Others such as St. George, Grafton (see related article) have partnered with local organizations to support the building of new affordable housing.

Responding to the housing crisis is not a quick fix. It will take every sector of society to contribute to creating communities where no one goes without the dignity and security of a home. But in advocacy efforts from federal to local, in supporting initiatives and organizations that create housing, and in fostering a public conversation supportive of housing for all, each of us can play a part.

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Our diocese is blessed with over 400 properties consisting of churches, halls, rectories, cemeteries and acres of land. These properties tell the story of nearly 200 parishes and missions, spanning almost two centuries. Yet they are also resources for a changing world, where housing insecurity, poverty and the climate crisis confront us daily.

The call from Synod has been clear: we must reimagine our properties for the sake of the gospel and the communities we serve. This work is at the very heart of our diocesan vision, Cast the Net. As Jesus called his disciples to throw their nets on the other side of the boat, we too are being asked to do things differently – to trust that abundance lies where we may not expect it.

Among the 20 calls of Cast the Net is Call 18: adopt an integrated, theologically informed approach to property management. This special edition of Beyond the Bricks explores how that call is taking shape through our Strategic Property Plan, parish investments, and bold new initiatives in housing and community partnership.

What follows is a three-part journey:

• Part 1 lays the foundation, sharing how the Strategic Property Plan was born and why its “first iteration” matters.
• Part 2 explores the blueprint — the tools and instruments that are equipping parishes to steward their buildings and lands.
• Part 3 looks outward to the horizon, where housing projects and community partnerships are transforming surplus property into mission.

Together, these parts tell the story of property strategy as mission and faith in action.

Part 1 – Foundations for the Future

If you could walk the map of our diocese, you would see over 400 properties stretching from bustling city blocks to quiet rural crossroads. Each one is a living chapter in the story of nearly 200 parishes, missions and unique communities.

In recent years, Synod has repeatedly returned to a question that is both practical and deeply spiritual: how can we steward this vast network of land and buildings for the good of our communities today, while preparing for the needs of tomorrow?

For many, the answer has been clear: surplus church lands can be part of the solution to the housing crisis or can become secure spaces for food ministries, shelters and programs that meet the most pressing needs in our neighbourhoods. But vision alone is not enough. As we quickly learned, it’s like sailing the ship while building it.

That’s why, in September 2024, Synod Council adopted the first iteration of the Strategic Property Plan. Born out of many months of consultation and prayerful discernment, the plan sets out both foundational and strategic priorities. At its core are two guiding commitments: anchoring property and land decisions to our faith while aligning them with strong principles of environmental stewardship and creation care. Strategically (and practically), it focuses on property re-development, optimization and equipping parishes with the tools and resources they need.

This deliberate shift is directly tied to Cast the Net, the diocese’s strategic vision. Among its 20 calls, Call 18 challenges us to adopt an integrated, theologically informed approach to property management. That is what this plan aims to represent – property stewardship as a living expression of discipleship, rooted in our faith and directed toward justice, sustainability and mission.

Calling this a first iteration was intentional. Our goal was not to set every detail in stone, but to get the ship seaworthy enough to set sail. Along the way, we expect to evaluate, make course corrections and sometimes pivot entirely. This iterative approach also means we have made intentional space for shortcoming, without jeopardizing the overall integrity of the plan or the deliverables it holds.

This spirit reflects the gospel call to cast our nets differently. Like the disciples, we are learning to do things in new ways – not clinging to the familiar but daring to try the other side of the boat. It also echoes Call 16 of Cast the Net, which reminds us to see the diocese as a dynamic net of shared relationships. The Strategic Property Plan aims to cast differently and focuses our attention on navigating property towards mission.

Part 2 – Building a Blueprint

Big ideas are only as strong as the structures that hold them up. For the Strategic Property Plan, that means creating the right tools and foundations to support bold action.

The Building Stewardship Policy, which is now in active development, is one of those tools. It is our way of ensuring that property decisions reflect our deepest commitments – theologically, environmentally and missionally.

Where “policy” often screams bureaucracy, here it signals discipleship. Guided by Cast the Net and Call 18, this work grounds every decision, so that our faith is embedded in the very bricks and land we steward.

We’ve also continued to deepen our integration with the Congregational Development team so that parishes have hands-on support in aligning property use with local ministry plans. It’s a way of ensuring that we steward property towards strengthened ministry and community impact.

Recognizing that the cost of preparing land and buildings for development has risen sharply, Synod Council approved the Pre-Development Fund in June 2024, seeding it with $5 million and anticipating another $1.5 million through the disposition of non-strategic properties. This fund is already making it possible for parishes to move forward with projects that might otherwise stall at the earliest stages.

Since Synod 2023, parishes have invested $19.2 million in capital projects under Canon 6, with more than $3 million in MAF Real Estate grants and loans supporting nearly 20 parish-led initiatives. These range from accessibility improvements to ministry expansions, redevelopments and new community partnerships.

These facts and figures represent the scaffolding of our future. Each new tool, resource and investment is a beam in the larger structure we are building together.

Part 3 – Mission in the Making

At the heart of the property strategy is a vision that our properties can be a place where people find belonging. This is perhaps most visible in our housing work, where bricks and beams become homes, and church land becomes the soil for new community.

One of our most ambitious initiatives is the consolidation of Anglican housing projects into a single entity. This vision is not new – the diocese has been working toward it for more than 25 years. What once seemed aspirational is actively being executed, with the structures, partnerships and momentum now in place to carry it forward. If successful, this initiative would unite over 1,000 units under one roof, establishing one of Toronto’s largest non-profit housing entities. This would give Anglicans a stronger and more credible platform to access funding, negotiate partnerships and steward surplus church lands for affordable housing. With strong support from the City of Toronto Housing Secretariat, we anticipate launching a pilot in 2026.

This initiative is itself a course correction – a pivot made possible by embracing an iterative plan. While our initial focus was on parish and diocesan-led development, experience has shown that partnering through land leases is a faster, more scalable way to deliver housing. It is not abandoning our chart; it is adjusting our sails to make the most of the winds before us.

Already, we are seeing transformation. The former St. John the Divine property in Toronto has been converted into a 50-bed shelter. Renewed land leases at All Saints, Sherbourne and St. David, Donlands have preserved 110 units of affordable and supportive housing. The diocese’s MAF Real Estate funding has sparked plans for expanded affordable and assistive housing in two other parishes.

This work embodies Call 16 of Cast the Net: Cultivate an understanding of the diocese as a dynamic net of shared relationships. Housing consolidation focuses on weaving together parishes, diocesan leadership, government partners and community organizations into one strong, interconnected net. In the same way, Call 18 continues to guide us to manage property through a theologically informed lens, reminding us that these decisions are grounded in our faith and not simply in economics.

Through Cast the Net, we are reminded that property is never only about buildings. Housing becomes discipleship in action, justice laid in stone and the gospel embodied in neighbourhoods where people find home.

When we talk about housing, we’re talking about the gospel in action, and about a Church that is not afraid to imagine new ways to use its gifts for the sake of the world. This is mission in the making, unfolding one property and one partnership at a time.

Epilogue – Casting the Net Together

The story of property in our diocese is still unfolding. We are learning, adjusting and sometimes failing – but always with our eyes fixed on the horizon, and our nets cast in faith.

Our Strategic Property Plan is not an end, but a means of living into the vision God has placed before us. It reflects the wisdom of Cast the Net: that to follow Jesus faithfully, we must sometimes let go of old ways and dare to do something new.

As we work on the many initiatives covered here, we are reminded of the abundant promise of the gospel: that when we trust God enough to cast the net on the other side of the boat, we will find more than we could ever carry on our own.

This is our work: to steward buildings and lands as instruments of mission. To see them as vessels of hope for the future. To know that in bricks and mortar, in shelters and homes, in parishes and partnerships, the love of Christ is being made tangible in the world.

And so, we return to the vision that grounds us: Followers of Jesus, inspired by the Holy Spirit, serve the world God loves.

May we continue to cast the net boldly and faithfully, together.

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Canon Finlay was one of about 200 people who attended the official re-opening of St. Hilda’s Seniors Community in Toronto on Oct. 25. The ceremony was held at St. Hilda’s church, located on the site at the corner of Dufferin Street and Eglinton Avenue West.

When fully occupied, the complex’s three residential towers, named after the Rev. Canon Clifford Ward, Archbishop Lewis Garnsworthy and Archbishop Finlay, will provide affordable housing for about 500 seniors. It is the largest project of its kind in the city and possibly the country.

In his opening remarks, Bishop Andrew Asbil said the success of the project was due to the collaboration between the federal, provincial and city governments, St. Hilda’s church and the housing complex’s board of directors, led by the Very Rev. Douglas Stoute, a former rector of St. James Cathedral and dean of Toronto.

“I am grateful for that collaboration,” said Bishop Asbil. “It is a style and a vision of working together as community to help solve our issue of affordable housing. This is a moment when we give thanks that so many among us can call this place home.” Many of the towers’ residents attended the ceremony.

Bishop Asbil said it was gratifying that the towers are named after Canon Ward, Archbishop Garnsworthy and Archbishop Finlay, “who are all, to us, saints.” Canon Ward was the rector of St. Hilda’s when he proposed the idea of a housing project for seniors on the church’s land in the early 1970s. Archbishop Garnsworthy and Archbishop Finlay, former diocesan bishops, were supporters of the project.

Two of the three towers are fully renovated, with the third to be refurbished when the funding becomes available. The towers are made up of studio and one-bedroom apartments, with an option of support services. Rent is capped at 80 per cent of the market level rates in the surrounding community. Many units are available on a rent-geared-to-income basis, and 80 units are for previously unhoused people.

The two towers are completely refurbished, with new plumbing and electricity and high-quality heating and cooling. Green strategies have reduced the buildings’ carbon footprint by 40 per cent.

The first tower was built in 1977, followed by the second in 1982 and the third in 1997. Originally intended to provide affordable supportive housing for seniors, the complex eventually became an assisted-living organization, similar to a nursing home, and was no longer viable. The buildings fell into disrepair.

Rather than sell the property to developers, the board of directors made the decision to turn the towers into affordable housing units for seniors. Dean Stoute said the decision was rooted in a theory of cities found in the writings of Jane Jacobs, a Torontonian, journalist and urban theorist who argued for the respect of city dwellers.

“You do not take cities and put all of the rich people in one corner and the poor people down on the other side of the track,” Dean Stoute told the gathering. “That was the heart of what Jane Jacobs was saying. Because of the subway, which is going to stop right out here, this area’s real estate value has gone through the roof. But because we’re here, we bring that anchor, that mirror of reality, that says it’s not just for the wealthy or the well-to-do, but at Dufferin and Eglinton, all people can live here.”

The project’s architect, Graeme Stewart, said the revitalization of the towers is one of the biggest housing stories in the country. “We’re talking about an enormous investment and a significant number of homes,” he said. “There’s a lot of talk right now about the housing crisis but one of the stories we don’t talk about is maintaining the affordable housing we have, and I can’t overstate that this was a choice by the board to say we are going to keep these homes as affordable for another generation. That was a choice – there was no obligation to do that. They said we’re going to take hundreds of homes and ensure that they are affordable for the long term.”

Bishop Asbil thanked Dean Stoute and board members Ted Hawkin and Kevin Kindellan, “who in their tenacity and hard work over eight and a half years, worked with all levels of government and partners to get us to this place.”

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Those who gave that answer were, technically, mistaken. There is indeed a human right to housing in Canada: not only in international treaties Canada has ratified, but also enshrined in the National Housing Strategy Act itself. But in a deeper sense, the quiz participants were correct. We have only to look around us to see that Canada is a long way from realizing the human right to housing. Small towns and major urban centres alike are seeing burgeoning homeless encampments as the number of people without housing exceed the capacity of local shelters. Tenants are feeling the squeeze as rents climb more rapidly than incomes, with more and more people frequenting food banks. And despite the number of construction cranes on the skyline, many of us know people who have had to leave our communities due to rising housing costs. We are not building our way out of the problem.

Decent, secure and affordable shelter is a foundation for dignity, security, community, stable education and employment, and improved physical and mental health. As Christians, our scriptures recognize the human need for shelter, security and dignity, and call us to care for the vulnerable and those in need among us.

Accordingly, the Social Justice and Advocacy Committee proposed that the 2024 social justice vestry motion call on all levels of government to protect and advance the human right to housing. Drawing on recommendations from the Federal Housing Advocate and other advocacy groups, and after consultation with the College of Bishops and the regional deans, the motion put forward four policy measures:

• calling on the federal government to ensure that federal subsidies and incentives are targeted to those developers and projects that demonstrably address housing need and uphold the human right to housing by meeting clear conditions on affordable rents, non-displacement policies and eviction prevention measures;
• calling on the federal government to end the favourable tax treatment of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and tax them at the regular corporate rate, with resulting revenues being directed toward the creation and preservation of affordable housing;
• calling on the provincial government to enact rent controls and vacancy controls on all rental housing and put restrictions on above-guideline rent increases; and
• calling on the provincial government to work with municipal governments to enact and enforce restrictions on short-term rentals to protect rental housing stock.

Parishes were provided with a backgrounder and links for further reading. Members of the Social Justice and Advocacy Committee and Housing Advocacy subcommittee responded to questions in a Q&A video posted on the diocesan YouTube channel. Some also made virtual or in-person presentations to interested parishes.

As always, parishes had the flexibility to amend the motion as they saw fit, but parishes that passed an amended motion were asked to send the final version to me as the Social Justice & Advocacy consultant.

By the end of March, I had heard directly from more than 50 parishes that had passed a version of the motion. Combined with information from the Incumbents’ Annual Statistical Returns, a total of 128 parishes, or 66 per cent of the parishes in the diocese, passed some form of this year’s vestry motion. The overwhelming majority of those parishes passed the motion as it was originally presented. Two parishes maintained the call to all levels of government to take measures to protect and advance the human right to housing but removed the specific policy measures outlined in the original motion. Two other parishes removed only the call to change the tax treatment of Real Estate Investment Trusts, and one removed only the call for vacancy control. However, 123 parishes, or 63 per cent of the diocese, supported all the calls outlined in the original motion. Some parishes added to the motion; for example, calling on the local municipality to require a certain percentage of affordable units in private developments, or calling for the construction of new co-op housing. One parish used the opportunity to commit itself to supporting local outreach and advocacy around housing initiatives.

This year’s motion was somewhat complex, and several of the policies outlined attracted vigorous debate, even if the motion ultimately passed. There was discussion about the role and impact of Real Estate Investment Trusts, the impact of rent control measures on the construction of rental housing, and what restrictions on short-term rentals might mean for parts of the diocese whose economies rely heavily on tourism. Overall, discussion is encouraging, because it means that people are engaging with the issues and grappling with the implications of what various measures would mean for themselves and their communities. The need to realize the human right to housing demands to be addressed – but we must also recognize what addressing this issue will ask of us.

Another encouraging sign this year was the number of people, both lay and clergy, who asked, “What happens after the motion?” The Social Justice & Advocacy Committee uses the results of these vestry motions in our communications with government leaders, such as our pre-budget submissions and our responses to the provincial budget, and in letters to and meetings with cabinet ministers. Demonstrating that we have the support of Anglicans across the diocese for our concerns gives our communications added weight. We also share the results of these motions with other members of ecumenical, interfaith and community justice coalitions working on the same issues.

We encourage parishes and individuals who support the motion to write and visit their elected representatives. Several parishes have already written to their MPs and MPPs, and template letters can be found at www.toronto.anglican.ca/vestry-motion. We are also hoping to set up a series of meetings with local MPPs. Anyone interested in participating can contact me, Elin Goulden, at egoulden@toronto.anglican.ca.

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Or so I thought. During a coffee break another volunteer pulled me aside and in a low voice outlined that even though the nearest homes were several hundred metres away, some of those homeowners had voiced their opposition to the project.

This is just one example of the hostility that often bursts forth in response to housing projects meant to benefit “the least of these.” A veteran Ontario MPP once told me that any politician bold enough to support affordable housing projects in their riding must accept the fact that everyone living near the project will vote against them in the next election, and many will campaign for other candidates.

Yes, fear of plunging property values, crime and other reasons often lie behind this hostility. But other fears are at play here too – especially fear of “the other,” of people who are different from us. We also like to believe that we’re in full control of our lives, when in fact we are not. Life is full of unforeseen events, many of them difficult, such as illnesses or accidents. Worrying about what the future may bring stirs up fear. The deepening climate crisis is another factor raising anxiety about an uncertain future.

Our Christian faith has plenty to say about fear and about deepening our faith in God rather than succumbing to fear. Our faith does not rest of the predictability of safety, but on God’s grace. The first words Jesus says to his fearful disciples following his resurrection are “Do not be afraid” (Matthew 28:10). “Fear not!” is the most repeated command in the bible. It’s been said that there are 365 “fear nots” in the bible — one for every day of the year.

In his book Fear of the Other: No Fear in Love, American theologian William Willimon invites Christians to consider the gospel command to love and not merely tolerate those considered to be “other” or outside mainstream Christian culture. Rooted in the Christian story and its inclusive vision, he brings a bold perspective to what may be the hardest thing for people of faith to do: including and loving the “other” as they are, without expecting them to become like us.

Emphasizing biblical teaching that urges us to accept these persons for who they are and their differences as gifts and mysteries bearing the grace of God, Willimon also offers a strong critique of privileged people who often speak of reconciliation yet evade the injustice of huge inequalities faced by foreigners and strangers.

Willimon argues that God comes to us through so-called outsiders, strangers, immigrants and those without status – the kind of people with whom Jesus spent a lot of time. Beyond extending welcome, Christians must become “other” to the world, shaking off the dominant culture’s identity and privilege through practices of listening, humility and understanding.

Along with those disciplines, I would add that conquering fear needs to involve going beyond our comfort zone to form meaningful connections with people different from us. Unfortunately, our society – and our personal attitudes – all too often erect barriers separating people based on their differences. It’s a kind of social apartheid. I live only 10 blocks from a Peterborough community nicknamed “Cracktown” because drug addiction plagues the lives of some of its residents. My wife and I have been lucky enough to make friends with three people living there who have taught me much about generosity and about how to laugh despite life’s challenges. Our life experiences are radically different, but deep down we share a common humanity.

Moving beyond fear is far from easy. It can begin with a couple of basic questions: what is it, exactly, that I am fearful of? Who am I afraid of – and why?

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According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), 15.3 per cent of Ontario households are in core housing need – that is, they are paying more than 30 per cent of gross household income on housing, their housing is not in adequate condition or is too small for the size of the household, or any combination of these factors. Housing policy analyst Carolyn Whitzman has pointed out in a recent report that the need is actually much greater, as CMHC calculations do not include people experiencing homelessness or living in shared housing conditions such as student residences or long-term care homes, or those living with roommates. As we have seen from downtown Toronto and Brampton to Barrie, Peterborough, Whitby and Port Hope, more and more of our neighbours are being pushed into homelessness, and existing shelter systems are insufficient to meet the rising need.

Given these figures, it may be surprising to hear that housing is a human right in Canada. The human right to housing is not only enshrined in international treaties Canada has signed, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Sustainable Development Goals; the National Housing Strategy Act (2019) also commits the federal government to the progressive realization of the right to housing. While this does not mean that the government guarantees everyone a home, it does mean that the government must do everything in its power to realize the right to housing for Canadians, including removing barriers to the realization of that right.

Barriers to realizing the right to housing go beyond a lack of supply, though recent policy at all levels of government has focused primarily on increasing supply. Policies that drive up rents faster than inflation, permit the rapid expansion of short-term rentals and reward maximizing profits on rental housing at the expense of keeping units affordable and in good repair pose even more significant obstacles to realizing the human right to housing. We are currently losing affordable housing units faster than we can build them. We must also take steps to prevent the loss of existing affordable housing stock.

This year’s social justice vestry motion addresses several of the key barriers to realizing the human right to housing, with calls addressed to every level of government. The federal government can do its part by targeting public funds and favourable tax treatment to those developers and projects that demonstrably address housing need; meeting clear conditions on affordable rents, non-displacement policies and eviction prevention policies; and limiting public funds and tax incentives for those developers and real estate investment vehicles that prioritize profit over the human right to housing. The provincial government can close rent control loopholes, including vacancy decontrol, which allow landlords to raise rents to any level they choose between tenants. The province can also work with municipal governments to enact and enforce reasonable restrictions on short-term rentals, to preserve rental housing stock in local communities.

These policies may look abstract on paper, but they have a very real impact on people’s lives. We all know people struggling to pay rising rents despite lapses in basic building upkeep, people who have been priced out of their communities, or people who have been forced to try to find new housing when their building has been demolished for an expensive new one to be built in its place. Some of us, or members of our immediate families, may have experienced this ourselves.

You can learn more about this year’s social justice vestry motion by visiting www.toronto.anglican.ca/vestry-motion. In addition to the motion and backgrounder, there are links for further reading and viewing that explore the issues in more depth. The Social Justice & Advocacy Committee also invites you to submit questions on this year’s motion by Jan. 15, which we will do our best to address in our annual video Q&A.

Scripture recognizes the human need for shelter, security and dignity. Isaiah 32:18 reads, “My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.” If we are truly committed to realizing the right to housing, our laws and policies must reflect this commitment.

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The group, led by the Very Rev. Douglas Stoute, has been transforming St. Hilda’s Seniors Community, a not-for-profit housing complex near Eglinton Avenue West and Dufferin Street in Toronto. The property includes three large residential towers and St. Hilda’s Anglican church.

When work is complete, the complex will have about 500 modern apartments for seniors, one of the largest projects of its kind in the city.

“We’re committed to social housing – it’s part of the ministry of the Church,” says Dean Stoute, president of St. Hilda’s Seniors Community and a former rector of St. James Cathedral.

One of the towers, named after the late Archbishop Terence Finlay, has been fully renovated and is accepting new tenants. The tower has 210 studio and one-bedroom apartments, available with or without support services such as light housekeeping and meal preparation. The tower is about 40 per cent occupied.

A second tower, named after the late Rev. Canon Clifford Ward, is currently under renovation. When completed, it will have 110 studio and one-bedroom apartments, also with or without support services. The third tower, named after the late Archbishop Lewis Garnsworthy, will receive some upgrades in the future. It has 120 units, with support services available.

Rent for the apartments is capped at 80 per cent of market-level rates in the local community. Many units are available on a rent-geared-to-income basis, and 80 apartments have been designated for previously unhoused people.

The renovation of the Finlay and Ward towers is being financed by loans and grants from three levels of government. CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation), a federal agency that seeks to make housing affordable to Canadians, is contributing $33 million while the province is providing $12 million through Homes for Good, a program that strives to prevent chronic homelessness and help people remain in stable housing. The City of Toronto is contributing $3.4 million through a Social Infrastructure Funding grant.

St. Hilda’s Seniors Community needs to repay about $28 million to CMHC, which it plans to do through rental income over the next five to 10 years.

The towers are being managed by WoodGreen, one of the largest not-for-profit social service providers in Toronto. WoodGreen, which was founded in the 1930s, manages 20 housing sites in the city, where residents have access to an array of support services.

Dean Stoute says it’s important to have professional managers running the St. Hilda’s complex to ensure its current and long-term health. “The skill set to run structures like this, with 500 residences, are not necessarily aligned with the skill sets of a parish priest. You need someone with expertise in managing buildings and residences. That’s what WoodGreen does. They have the managerial acumen that we have faith will keep this project on a positive cash flow basis.”

Kevin Kindellan, a member of St. Hilda’s modernization committee, says the City of Toronto was keen to participate in the project in part because of its location on Eglinton Avenue’s light rapid transit route. “Wherever you have transit, you have density,” he says. “Being able to have affordable housing right on the transit line is something the city doesn’t usually have access to. All three kitty-corners of the property have been sold to luxury condominium developers, so having affordable housing on a transit line is a rather unique opportunity for the city.”

The city is trying to address the shortage of affordable housing units for seniors. According to its figures, there are about 35,000 seniors on the waiting list for subsidized housing administered by the city.

“What we’re doing at St. Hilda’s is significant, but the need is huge,” says Dean Stoute.

St. Hilda’s Towers, as it was originally called, was founded by Anglicans in the 1970s to provide affordable, supportive housing for seniors. Over the decades, it became an assisted-living organization, similar to a nursing home, and was no longer viable. The complex needed a new vision to survive and thrive, says Dean Stoute, and it chose affordable housing.

“We’ve reincarnated ourselves as an affordable housing project that will hopefully provide that service for people for the next 30 to 40 years,” he says. “I see it as a sign of the Church renewing itself in a different age, in a different model.”

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Jesus reminds us of two principles in tension: Christians must never neglect the suffering of people in this age, but the particular service we can offer the world depends on our connection to the eternal – to the Divine.

If we needed a reminder of the importance of Christian witness for decency in governmental policy and commercial behaviour, we are getting it now. Women, children and men are put out of their homes by “renoviction” or other means of depriving people of shelter, in favour of those who can pay more. Those who cannot afford increasing rents end up insecurely housed, sharing with friends or in cramped congregate shelters. An increasing number of men and women are sleeping rough or living in tents in cities across the world. To Christians, and indeed all People of the Book, these people we displace with the bland impersonal brutality of the neo-liberal economy are made in the image and likeness of God, of infinitely more value than the numeric formulations we dignify with words like “wealth” and “prosperity.”

“A hangout for the bottom 1 per cent” (Google review of All Saints Church-Community Centre)

In a society obsessed with possession, people in deep poverty and without shelter present an unwelcome reminder of the cruelty of our society and the inefficiency of our institutions. To business proprietors, unhoused people in deep poverty are an unwelcome disturbance to their customers. Many of us have good reason to fear poverty and are all too easily taught to fear the poor. The cruelties and absurdities of our policies lead, among other things, to encampments, which burden public space and bring unhoused people into conflict with other community members.

In response, an increasing number of commentators propose to sweep those whom our society has displaced out of sight. They begin by blaming the housing crisis on illicit drugs, or on the untreated mental illness they ascribe to those lost on our streets. From there, they argue the solution lies with a return to institutionalization. The call to bring back insane asylums is accompanied by the claim that we unwisely abandoned them at the behest of “romantic” arguments about freedom, exemplified by novels such as One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

These arguments are wrong on nearly every point. The movement leading to the closing of insane asylums was driven not by Ken Kesey’s supposed romantic notions but by awareness of the abuses built into a system designed to hide people suffering from mental illness. Anyone unclear about the real nature of institutions designed to make the poor and the powerless conform or disappear need only consider the results of scans by ground-penetrating radar, from the Tuam care home in Ireland to Canada’s Residential Schools.

The solution to homelessness is simple: to build and provide housing. Even in economic terms, institutionalization fails. Estimates are imperfect, but confining people almost always costs more than housing them. The parliamentary budget office has estimated the construction cost per inmate of a secure institution at $400,000. The maximum estimated construction cost for an apartment is $240,000. That difference, $160,000 for each homeless person, is far too much money to waste on pointless cruelty.

…The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry; the coat unused in your closet belongs to the one who needs it; the shoes rotting in your closet belong to the one who has no shoes; the money which you hoard up belongs to the poor. (Basil the Great)

No psychiatric problem or addiction is improved by casting the sufferer adrift on the streets. Providing housing always reduces stress, makes access to medication easier and facilitates regular care. This assumes care will be available; in many cases, it is not. Mental health care and support services are severely underfunded in many places, and Ontario is not an exception. Infamously, politicians who closed institutions for the mentally ill promised outpatient services they never provided. Many people with mental illness need counselling, support and access to medications; in some cases, this means reminding people of the benefits of therapy, and help to schedule their medications. These needs can be met by a caring community, through group homes or even adult fostering arrangements. People with mental illness, even quite severe conditions, respond to the love and support of a family, chosen family or community. Loving care is certainly better than spending vast sums on walls and locks, only to sweep the image of God out of sight.

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“This is a big first step,” says Peter Patterson, co-chair of the diocese’s Property Committee. “Kindred shares the same values as us and the same idea about ownership. We’re looking forward to working with them.”

Established by the United Church of Canada, Kindred Works is an independent company that redevelops and manages land on behalf of the United Church, its congregations and ecumenical partners, including the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. Its goal is to upgrade church properties to include housing and shared spaces that are built to meet community needs and promote sustainability.

Mr. Patterson and co-chair Stu Hutcheson say Kindred Works is a good partner for the diocese because it supports the diocese’s position that the Church should retain ownership of the property. “It’s important that the land we’re using is not sold to a developer, where we can lose control and our objectives may be compromised,” says Mr. Hutcheson. “In the agreement with Kindred, the diocese and the parish remain the owners of the land and any improvements.”

Kindred Works also shares the diocese’s vision of environmentally friendly and well-managed buildings that include market-level and affordable housing, they say.

Under the agreement, Kindred Works, in consultation with the parish, will produce a feasibility study consisting of a review of current zoning and zoning potential, a market analysis, initial potential massing and a high-level viability assessment. If Synod Council approves the feasibility study, Kindred Works will put together a development plan that will include a preliminary planning review, a heritage risk assessment, a market study review of comparable rentals, and up to three massing studies for the property. The plan will include budgets for the development and construction of the property.

Upon approval by Synod Council, the development plan will be submitted to the city, town or municipality in which the parish is located. If approved, Kindred Works will contract with the diocese to provide construction and management services.

Much of the financing for the redevelopment projects is expected to come from CMHC (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation), a crown corporation that seeks to make housing affordable for everyone in Canada. If CMHC cannot provide all the funds necessary for a project, the parish, the diocese or a third-party investor will have to provide funding.

Parishes that want to redevelop their properties with Kindred Works will first need to state what their mission is. If their plan meets diocesan goals and includes providing affordable housing, they will be put on a list of parishes to be considered for redevelopment with Kindred Works. The College of Bishops will prioritize the list.

Mr. Hutcheson cautions that it will take time for projects to come to fruition, given their complexity and the number of people needed to provide input and expertise. “Five years is not an unreasonable timeline from start to occupancy.”

Kindred Works currently has eight projects in Ontario and New Brunswick on the go, with several more in the planning stage, including redevelopments at St. Mary and St. Martha’s two sites in Toronto.

Parishes that want to redevelop their properties to include housing – or perhaps without housing at all – do not have to work with Kindred Works, but they must retain ownership of the property and demonstrate that they have the means and expertise to successfully complete the project. Under the diocese’s Canon 6, all such projects must be approved by Synod Council.

Mr. Patterson says the agreement with Kindred Works provides a framework that will make the diocese’s redevelopment process more efficient. “Every redevelopment for every parish will be different, but by nailing down some of the things we can agree on and do beforehand, that will save us a lot of time and money. If everything had to be replicated every time there was a redevelopment project, it would bring the parish and the diocese to its knees.”

He says the agreement is an important step in the diocese’s efforts to address the housing crisis in Ontario. “Affordable housing is something we all care about and is something we want to have as an outcome in situations where that is appropriate.”

Last fall, Synod passed a motion calling for the diocese to develop an affordable housing plan that will determine the feasibility of building affordable housing on diocesan-owned lands; prioritize strategic partnerships with industry experts in the fields of planning, development and affordable housing provision; establish specific, achievable targets; and clearly define the meaning of affordability for each project.

In June 2021, the diocese offered a workshop for parishes that provided a theological perspective on land and an overall governance framework for development projects. Over the course of the summer, a series of four webinars was offered that covered a variety of topics that included looking at other faith-based housing projects, planning for inclusion and diversity, ecologically sustainable development, financial sustainability, and looking at development through the eyes of a non-profit developer.

After the workshops, parishes indicated that they were looking for greater clarity and guidance around the redevelopment process and more support from the diocese as they consider whether redevelopment is the next step in their faith journey. The Property Committee’s ongoing work in this area, including the agreement with Kindred Works, is a response to that.

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