The first phase of a study on Ontario’s Special Priority Policy (SPP) Impact Study was recently released by a joint research task force. SPP allows victims of domestic abuse special priority for social housing. It became a legal requirement for all social housing providers with the Social Housing Reform Act, 2000, though specific types of providers had adopted priority policies for victims of abuse in the 1990s.

The report is useful for those interested in learning about the housing outcomes of SPP applicants as well as housing trends for all categories of social housing applicants. It utilizes waiting list data collected from 33 Service Managers representing the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), non-GTA urban and rural service areas. For each of the three service areas, waiting list totals, housing placements by number of bedrooms and average wait times were examined for SPP, local priority, special needs and chronological applicants.

Interesting Facts:

• As of mid-2010, an estimated 147,000 applicants were on waiting lists for social housing in Ontario
• 33.5% of the all-age community vacancies are allocated to SPP applicants, yet they represent only 3.6% of the waiting list
• The province-wide average wait time for SPP applicants is less than 6 months
• Chronological applicants in the GTA wait 5.1 years on average, which is significantly longer than non-GTA urban service areas of 2.4 years and rural areas which is 1 year

Results and Recommendations

The study indicates that the policy is in fact housing victims of domestic abuse more quickly compared to other applicants, just as the province intended.  However, new spaces in social housing have not been created and chronological applicants have reduced opportunities to secure housing.  Not surprisingly, the GTA has the longest wait times for all categories of applicants compared to other urban and rural service areas.  While the report does not provide formal policy recommendations, it does advocate for a provincially consistent database to collect social housing waiting list information to ensure more consistency in data collection. The report also highlights the need for more affordable housing in all Service Manager areas, which is evidenced by the length of time that chronological applicants have to wait.

What’s Next?

The next part of this study, Phase 1, Step 2, will examine if the SPP is meeting the needs of its applicants. For instance, are applicants retaining their new housing and what services could better support this group? Later, Phase 2 will examine the conditions for safe and stable housing for special priority applicants.

Read the SPP Impact Study and let us know what you think – is the SPP working?