Dear Friend,
Community organizations and agencies are part of the fabric of our neighbourhoods and communities across the GTA. These places and spaces play an essential role in the health and vitality of our communities, making our neighbourhoods feel like home.
But skyrocketing rents and real estate prices are threatening their existence. Over the past two years, 61 per cent of these organizations have experienced rent increases, and 1 in 10 are at risk of closing a location. That means the vital services people rely on could disappear from the neighbourhoods that need them most.
As we look towards a GTA for the future, community real estate — spaces that are accessible, affordable and sustainable for those serving community — can help ensure these organizations remain at the heart of the neighbourhoods they serve.
That’s why we are embarking on big, bold plans. Investing in research to explore where community spaces are needed most. Bringing together non-profit, public and private sector partners to support social service organizations in accessing real estate and securing long-term spaces. Making sure community agencies that connect people to food, shelter, health and employment programs and services continue to be there, close to home.
I invite you to visit our interactive exhibit this month at Metro Hall. In partnership with the University of Toronto’s Infrastructure Institute at School of Cities, the installation presents our recent research exploring social service real estate assets across our region, those that are at risk of displacement and how we can safeguard these essential spaces. We hope you will stop by to learn more about the even greater impact we can have — together, with your support.
Community spaces are an essential part of the GTA we envision for the future ahead. With tenacity, determination and fueled by the power of community, we are working to ensure they remain embedded in our neighbourhoods for years to come. Any way we can.
Always, and only, thank you.
Daniele Zanotti
President & CEO
United Way Greater Toronto
Your support in action
See our report on community real estate come to life
Join us as we launch our latest report, Essential Spaces: Real (Estate) Solutions for Community Needs, on Oct. 30 at 10 a.m. at Toronto’s Metro Hall Rotunda. We’ll also be sharing a special announcement and discussing how to leverage community real estate to build community resilience into the bricks and mortar of our region’s neighbourhoods with Matti Siemiatycki, Director, Infrastructure Institute at the School of Cities, University of Toronto and our own Ruth Crammond, Vice President, Community Infrastructure.
If you can’t make the launch, drop by to explore our interactive exhibit, created in partnership with the Infrastructure Institute at the School of Cities, University of Toronto. The exhibit will be on at the Metro Hall Rotunda (55 John Street, Toronto), from Oct. 28 to 31 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Nov. 1 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and will be coming to Peel and York Region in the following weeks.
Social Medicine Initiative is welcoming residents home
We are so proud to celebrate the official opening of Toronto’s first-of-its-kind supportive housing project, the Social Medicine Initiative — a partnership between United Way, University Health Network and the City of Toronto. This four-storey building in Parkdale will provide 51 new units of permanent, deeply affordable housing for people experiencing homelessness, along with 24/7 wraparound services including primary care, mental health support, harm reduction and systems navigation. Thanks to supporters like you, we’re also funding a community kitchen, where residents can heal, share and rebuild together. This ground-breaking initiative goes beyond providing shelter, it’s about creating spaces built on dignity and connection where people can thrive.
Keeping people housed through community-led solutions
Skyrocketing rents and costs-of-living are affecting too many people in the GTA, with many forced to choose between basic necessities or paying their rent. It’s hitting people living on a low income the hardest and forcing people into untenable situations, or out of their neighbourhoods entirely. But it doesn’t have to be this way. United Way is working with local agencies and other partners across Peel, Toronto and York Region to keep people housed, and neighbourhoods welcoming through supportive housing initiatives. Your support fuels our work in many innovative, community-led solutions, like the SMI mentioned above and community land trusts, in addition to the more than 35 housing programs we support across the region, which provide everything from transitional housing for youth to emergency shelter for refugees.
IN COMMUNITY, WITH COMMUNITY
United Way-funded Romero House needs hosts for newly arrived refugee families who need a safe space to live. Visit their website to learn more about this program.
United Way ClimbUP is in three weeks! Don’t miss this chance to take on the challenge of climbing the 1,776 steps of the CN Tower this Nov. 9 or 10
Connect with a community of book lovers and learn more about our work in community! Join the United Way Book Club and get invited to our November meeting.
Fighting poverty takes all of us pitching in, and we are so grateful to partners like EY Canada for their extraordinary $10M gift over five years to United Ways across Canada, helping to build stronger, brighter communities where everyone has access to the support and opportunities they need to succeed.
Building community takes community.
With your support, With your support, we will build a GTA where everyone has what they need to thrive. Any way we can. Learn more about our work. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive regular updates about how your local love is making a difference across the GTA.