By Fred Alvardo
(Fred is a journalist with the Focus Media Arts Centre, funded by the Government of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative.

The Featured stories are:
Meet The Regent Park Neighbourhood Association Leadership Team.

Community Organizations and Local City Councillor Call for Action to Acquire Vacant  Sherbourne-Dundas Property for Real Affordable Housing.

* SDP Planning Committee Settles Debate on Presenting the Community Benefits Terms of Reference to Stakeholders Table (Fred)
* Meet The Regent Park Neighbourhood Association Leadership Team. (Murphy)
* Community Organizations and Local City Councillor Call for Action to Acquire Vacant Sherbourne-Dundas Property for Real Affordable Housing. (Fred)
* Report of Monday 7th Regent Park Community Meeting with Toronto Metropolitan Police. (Murphy)
* Covid-19 and Vaccination Update (Fred)

1. Ontario will lift most COVID-19 mask mandates on March 21
2. Vaccine engagement levels in the Regent Park, Moss Park, and St James Town areas.
* Events and Jobs in Regent Park Community (Daiem)

Meet The Regent Park Neighbourhood Association Leadership Team

The Regent Park Neighbourhood Association (RPNA) was formed in early 2015, with an aim of having an equal proportion of TCHC and Market residents involved in its membership. RPNA represents residents of Regent Park and provides a broad range of advocacy, services and events.

Recently, in a public announcement made to the community in February 2022, it was announced by members of the leadership team that RPNA had incorporated as a not-for-profit organization and will soon establish an office on the third floor of the Daniels Spectrum Arts Centre. In today's news we meet some of the members of the Leadership Team.

Community Organizations and Local City Councillor Call for Action to Acquire Vacant Sherbourne-Dundas Property for Real Affordable Housing.

On Monday March 7th, members of local agencies and organizations along with local city councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam gathered outside at 214-230 Sherbourne St. vacant property (just south of Dundas St. East) to intensify their call on the city to acquire the seven-lot parcel, which has sat vacant for more than a decade. They also want the provincial and federal governments to support the City of Toronto by providing funds to purchase this prime development site as well as address Toronto’s housing and homelessness crisis.

“Losing this property to developers would be such a huge blow to the community and it would create further gentrification,” said social worker Sheryl Lindsay of Regent Park Community Health Centre’s advocacy committee, which organized Monday’s news conference/rally and has long advocated for the city to expropriate or purchase the Sherbourne Street property for social housing.

For the first time since 2018, 214-230 Sherbourne St. is for sale. Bids are due on Friday, March 11 by 3 p.m.

“Having (affordable) housing at this site just makes total sense. Putting a condo there doesn’t. We need to have this property saved,” said Lindsay, who also noted the area is home to several life-saving services low-income and unhoused people rely on to get by.

Frank Coburn, a harm reduction worker and 30-year community member, said it’s important to remember his neighbourhood has a long history of welcoming people from all walks of life and income levels. He said the ongoing and increasing lack of affordable housing in Toronto’s downtown east is becoming a life-or-death matter for many.

“It’s really a state of crisis. People are dying around here,” he shared, while mentioning community members who recently froze to death in bus shelters just down the street. It’s a real tragedy to see human beings wasted like this because of a lack of housing.” Coburn said despite there being several shelters in the area, most are often full.

At last month’s city council meeting, a motion put forward by Councillor Wong-Tam was passed that requested staff explore the feasibility of purchasing 214-230 Sherbourne St. for rent-geared-to-income housing by its March 9 meeting.

It should be noted this matter is currently not on this month’s council agenda.

Regardless, Wong-Tam said she’s confident staff can come up with a plan and line up funds to purchase this site in time.

Wong-Tam, who noted the cost of homelessness is far more expensive than building affordable housing, even went as far as to ask condo developers to go elsewhere, to consider other suitable sites for their projects.

So far, more than 1,800 people have signed an online petition that calls on Toronto city council to acquire/expropriate 214-230 Sherbourne St. for social housing as well as the provincial and federal governments to provide funding to both build and operate it.