There are some serious questions being raised about the lack of vetting into subsidized housing tenants.
Requirements are set out in the Housing Services Act and criminal background checks are not part of the process.
Shouldn't they be?
Some say "yes," especially following Monday's shooting inside a building in the area of Finch and Brahms.
A 25-year-old man, who was already known to police, is accused of firing an Uzi from inside his unit causing bullets to fly into a wall in the hallway, barely missing two nine-year-old kids playing.
Mayor John Tory says he has gone to the Premier and provincial ministers asking for help with the safety and security of all tenants by making it easier for the city to remove those with a criminal record.
"As for the vetting process...it becomes as controversial if you are stricter in your vetting than it leads to some people perhaps, some might argue, properly being rejected by Toronto Community Housing but you're still left with the question of how are you going to house those people?"
That's not good enough for the mother of one of the children shot at. "They aren't taking this serious. It just keeps happening and happening. How long? How many lives are we going to lose before they step up and do something about this?"
The City lists the basic eligibility for rent-geared-to-income housing as the following:
- All members of the household must be Canadian citizens, landed immigrants (permanent residents), applicants for permanent resident status, refugees, or a refugee claimants;
- One member of the household must be 16 years of age or older and able to live independently with or without supports;
- There must be no enforceable deportation, departure or exclusion order against any household members;
- No member of the household can owe arrears to another social housing provider in Ontario unless there is an up to date repayment schedule in place;
- No household member or former member has convictions of rent-geared-to-income fraud or misrepresentation.