Human Resources committee  There are three more examples the Toronto poverty reduction strategy supports. One is intense case management. As Kelly mentioned, there's enough research, some of it coming from the U.K., that it is a much better way to integrate services, and there's more bang for your buck.

Human Resources committee  In Toronto, 18% of the adult population lives in households with an income below the low-income measure. That figure goes up to close to 30% for residents who have physical or mental disabilities, and there are good reasons to believe that this is an underestimation.

Human Resources committee  Yes. We now use the low-income measure or LICO as indicators of poverty in our cities. They capture part of the story, but they don't capture the entire story. As has been mentioned before, there are other aspects of both material deprivation and social inclusion. There are key components of the fuller experience of poverty that right now are not adequately addressed or captured in the statistics that we are using.

Human Resources committee  As well, more broadly, we welcome the general approach of trying to work together to find practical solutions to issues that often fall through the cracks where there is no jurisdiction for them. I think the federal government has already indicated that the collaboration of the Canada poverty reduction strategy review involved a lot of community engagement and engagement with stakeholders such as the City of Toronto.

Human Resources committee  I have not been directly involved in these programs, so I cannot comment on any of them. I would be happy to follow up with a written submission if you so wish.

Human Resources committee  I think we mentioned in our opening remarks the importance of the infrastructure plan and the investments that have been made so far in social and affordable housing. We can't stress enough how essential housing is. We need to continue to invest in it. Otherwise, a lot of the work we've been doing here at the municipal and provincial levels will not yield the results we hoped for.

Human Resources committee  In my opening remarks, I mentioned that the poverty reduction strategy is an assistance strategy. By that we mean that the strategy builds on our place-based and population-based strategies. Toronto has a workforce development strategy, a youth equity strategy, a strong neighbourhoods strategy, and a seniors strategy, and we build on all that.

Human Resources committee  Sorry; just to pick up on that and on the previous question on innovation and evaluation, I wanted to call attention to the Local Poverty Reduction Fund. The Ontario Poverty Reduction Strategy Office created, as part of the mandate of the office, a fund that provides grants for community organizations working on poverty to evaluate ongoing initiatives—on the ground, grassroots—and to then report back on whether or not those are feasible solutions moving forward and should be scaled up or not.

Human Resources committee  Thank you for the question. On top of the programs that I already mentioned—the social procurement program, our youth employment programs—the Toronto poverty reduction strategy has directed its staff to develop a job quality assessment tool. Next spring we'll be bringing to council a framework on how to better assess the quality of jobs in the city, and also some recommendations on how to move forward on improving those jobs.

Human Resources committee  Sure. Thank you very much for the question. Yes, we are in full agreement that there needs to be a focus on both. We have to address immediate needs of residents who do not have enough to eat or don't have a shelter or don't have any way of addressing their basic needs tonight.

Human Resources committee  Here are a few examples of the things the City of Toronto is investing in right now and working on. We have ever more programs focused on youth employment to make sure that kids who are getting out of high school or vocational training or even university can be easily integrated into the job market.

Human Resources committee  Good morning, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. First I want to thank you for having invited us today and for giving us the opportunity to discuss the developments, achievements and challenges of the Toronto Poverty Reduction Strategy. We also want to take this opportunity to thank the Government of Canada for investing in social and affordable housing in phase 1 of the infrastructure plan.