Kempford Safety Town Hall

A month ago I met with residents at Kempford Seniors Housing, one of our neighbourhood’s Toronto Seniors Housing Corporation (TSHC) communities. Many residents brought up concerns that I realized required a town hall. As such, we brought together:

• Toronto Seniors Housing Corporation CEO, Tom Hunter

• Community Safety Unit from TSHC

• Program Coordinator for TSHC

• NeighbourLink North York

• Yonge Street Foot Patrol North York Seniors Centre

Some of the issues we discussed included:

• Lack of programming. We noted that compared to activities we have seen in two other Toronto Seniors Housing Corporation locations in our community, this one has the sparsest calendar (one exercise class).

• Lack of knowledge on how to navigate the system and get help, particularly for non-English speakers.

• The unhoused community are regularly coming into the building, and tenants have been dealing with this issue themselves without engaging the Community Safety Unit, which is what they were advised to do.

• There is garbage accumulation outside, which is often left untended.

The building currently has a tenant representative who has done a good job in representing their community. However, there are gaps due to language and culture, which became apparent when my staff were able to speak with residents who spoke Farsi, Mandarin and Cantonese.

Here are some action items that will be taken:

• NeighbourLink North York will look for volunteers who speak the tenants' common languages to help bridge the gap and support and advocate for their needs.

• We will be looking for opportunities to engage volunteers or organizations to deliver programming to the community. If you know of a local faith community or organization that is interested, please let us know.

• TSHC will form a Tenant Circle to strengthen community engagement and identify additional programming opportunities. One group of residents asked for a Karaoke machine, which could easily strengthen the community. TSHC is committed to looking into this.

• Yonge Street Foot Patrol told the residents that they can reach out to them if any situations arise, as they are often on foot and nearby.

The residents in our TSHC buildings are extremely vulnerable. Not all of them have family to check in on them. I look forward to working with staff and local organizations to better support this community.