Information Backgrounder – Diocesan Vestry Motion

Mark your calendars! Our Annual Vestry Meeting will be held on February 27 at 7 pm via Zoom. This is when parishioners can review and approve the ministry leaders, budget and Diocese‘s social justice vestry motion for 2024 at CCSJ (text below).

Because the vestry motion is an important and complex one on housing issues this year, Helen Gill and Sandra Fawcett of our Housing Committee are inviting everyone to a short educational session on February 11, immediately following morning service. The vestry motion for 2024 and backgrounder are available for you to review in advance by clicking on this link. Please bring a copy and your questions, so that you can make an informed vote on February 27.
Here’s the text of the motion:

Social Justice Vestry Motion 2024: Protecting and Advancing the Right to Housing

We, the parish of _________, call on all levels of government to take the following measures to protect and advance the human right to housing:

• We call on the Government of Canada to ensure that federal subsidies and incentives are targeted to those developers and projects that demonstrably address housing need and uphold the human right to housing by meeting clear conditions on affordable rents, non-displacement policies and eviction prevention measures.
• We call on the Government of Canada to end the favourable tax treatment of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and tax them at the regular corporate rate, with resulting revenues being directed toward the creation and preservation of affordable housing.
• We call on the Province of Ontario to enact rent controls and vacancy controls on all rental housing and put restrictions on Above Guideline Rent Increases.
• We call on the Province of Ontario to work with municipal governments to enact and enforce restrictions on short-term rentals to protect rental housing stock.