October 28, 1999

To: Community Services Committee

From: Toronto Housing Company Inc.

Subject:` Tenant Appoints to the Board of Directors Toronto Housing Company Inc.

RE: RESOLUTION OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE TORONTO HOUSING COMPANY INC. ITEM 9 - RESIDENT PARTICIPATION SYSTEM - UPDATE

At its meeting of September 13, 1999, the Board of Directors of Toronto Housing Company Inc., had before it a Report (September 3, 1999) from the Chief Executive Officer, respecting the Resident Participation System, and at that time amended Recommendation (1) thereof and adopted the Report as so amended.

Attached is a copy of the amended Report as so adopted, recommending that ACity Council, as the governing body of the shareholder, extend the term of the current tenant Board Members, Mary Crowe, Elaric Kissoon and Victor Waring until the first anniversary of their appointment and/or until their successors are appointed."

Derek Ballantyne

Chief Executive Officer

Attach:

THC.resSepten

TORONTO HOUSING COMPANY INC.

Date: September 3, 1999

To: BOARD OF DIRECTORS

From: Chief Executive Officer

Subject: RESIDENT PARTICIPATION SYSTEM - UPDATE (THC:99076)

RECOMMENDATIONS:

It is recommended that:

(1) the Board recommend to City Council, as the governing body of the shareholder, extend the term of the current tenant Board Members, Mary Crowe, Elaric Kissoon and Victor Waring until the first anniversary of their appointment and/or until their successors are appointed.

(2) the appropriate Toronto Housing Company and City officials take the necessary steps to give effect thereto.

BACKGROUND:

In March 1999 three Tenant Directors were named by the Shareholder to the Board of Directors for a ten month term, to expire in December 1999. The Tenant Directors were nominated by tenants of the Toronto Housing Company through an interim process, pending the establishment of a Tenant Participation System for the Toronto Housing Company, which would include a permanent mechanism for the nomination of tenant Directors. At the time it was assumed that a permanent mechanism for nomination of Tenant Directors would be in place in sufficient time to provide tenant Director nominations to City Council in November. The implementation of the Toronto Housing Company Resident Participation System.

At their June, 1999 meeting, the Board received a proposed Resident Participation System that had been developed by tenants through working groups over the previous year and approved by tenants at the May 31st tenant forum. (The proposed system was approved by the Board with one amendment, deletion of the sentence "There should be at least 1/3 tenant representation on the Board"

Throughout the process of developing the Resident Participation System, existing tenant leadership consisting of TACT (Tenant Association Coalition of Toronto) and other Tenant Associations, the HCTC (Housing Company Tenant Council), members of the Anti-Ableism Committee and other tenant representatives acted as a Tenant Reference Group. Planning the implementation of the Resident Participation System was identified as part of the work of the Governance Working Group, along with staff.

REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS:

The Toronto Housing Company Resident Participation System will provide opportunities for tenants to participate in the decision making at all levels of the Company. Tenants will be represented on a "city-wide" Toronto Housing Company Tenant Council. This Council will nominate three tenants to the Board of Directors. A tenant-managed process for nomination of Tenant Directors was approved in the by-laws of the Toronto Housing Company. All nominations for Directors to the Toronto Housing Company must be approved by City Council.

The "city-wide" Tenant Council will not be in place until late in 199, and will not be in a position to nominate three Tenant Directors until early 2000. For this reason, it is recommended that the terms of the current Tenant Directors on the Board of Directors of the Toronto Housing Company be extended to March 2000.

An "Implementation Committee" of tenants from the Toronto Housing Company Governance Working Group and staff has been developing plans for holding elections for tenant representatives at the community level. Each community will be represented on a Division or Community Operating Unit Tenant Council. IN turn, each Council will nominate members to a "city-wide" Tenant Council. The Implementation Committee has made a number of decisions:

Tenant elections will be held on Thursday, November 17, 1999. The purpose of this election is to elect one representative to the local Community Operating Unit or Division Council.

Nominations close on Wednesday, October 27, 1999.

The critical path for communication materials was finalized and is attached along with a letter to all tenants from the CEO announcing the election and the election brochure (Appendix 1, 2 and 3). All materials are available in 13 languages.

Tenant meetings are being planned in all buildings/complexes over the next two months for information, nominations and meeting the candidates. In buildings with no language profiles, staff are using all available information to develop preliminary profiles and do the best possible outreach for this election.

Following the November election, the Community Operating Unit (COU) or Division Councils will form and elect 2 members representing each COU to the city-wide Council of Tenants. The Council of Tenants in turn will elect three tenant members to the Board of Directors. It is expected that this process will take until March, 2000 at the earliest.

_______________________

Derek Ballantyne

Chief Executive Officer