Layton should stay in co-op, group says

Tom Kerr
The Toronto Star

Toronto Councillor Jack Layton should not move from his $800-a- month subsidized apartment even if he and his wife do earn $120,000 a year, a housing coalition says.

The issue is not people with high incomes living in co-ops, but the failure of the federal and provincial governments to provide enough affordable housing, Penny McCabe of the Federation of Metro Tenants Associations said at a city hall news conference yesterday.

Layton and his wife Olivia Chow, a public school trustee, legally qualify to live in the Hazelburn Co-op on Jarvis St. and are guaranteed security of tenure under the federal goverment's co-op scheme, said Scott Barry of the Co-operative Housing Federation of Toronto.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. provided the 75-unit Hazelburn Co-op with a 2 per cent mortgage, which costs the taxpayers $405,000 a year. The Laytons want to remain in the co-op and say they recently began paying an extra $325 a month to the co-op to offset the CMHC subsidy on the unit.

"It is wrong and cruel to blame . . . or to suggest they (the Laytons and other members of the NDP who live in co-ops) have somehow betrayed people who are homeless or underhoused," Barry said.

"Ottawa and Queen's Park should get on with the proper funding of affordable housing."

Michael Shapcott, of the Bread Not Circuses Coalition, said evicting Layton and Chow would not do anything for the poor and homeless in the city.

He and others blamed the media for attempting to "shift the blame" for the current housing crisis from the federal and provincial governments to Layton and other politicians and activists who support non-profit and co-op housing.

In a statement released earlier this week, Layton said his residence in the co-op "may seem curious."

But he said: "I support bringing these issues directly to city council and its committees and will participate fully in those discussions to defend the concept of co-op living."

Source: Tom Kerr, T.S. 1990, Layton should stay in co-op, group says: [FIN Edition], Toronto, Ontario, Canada.