Dear Tenants,
I am delighted to be back at Toronto Seniors Housing and have the opportunity to speak with you again.
I am grateful to have had the opportunity to go over to Toronto Community Housing and learn about the organization. But most important for me now is to apply what I learned here, at Toronto Seniors Housing. I will be looking to see how we can work together to make improvements, and to help tenants live for as long as they can in their homes.
It was great to see many of you at our first Regional Tenant Volunteers Meetings last month. I held my first Tenants Connecting with the CEO tour on April 30 with the goal of attending a building every week. I am looking forward to getting back out into the community and getting grounded with the work at Toronto Seniors Housing.
In February, the City of Toronto approved TSHC’s 2024 budget. I’m happy to share that the adopted Budget will continue to protect and fund affordable housing.
As we continue to focus on affordable housing, many recommendations and actions that came out of the Quality Improvement Projects last year are now part of our Strategic Directions. Our new way of working together with tenants (Community Connect+) is well underway. Annual Building Planning meetings have wrapped up and the next step will be to fund building priorities identified by tenants.
I want to acknowledge National Volunteer Week that just passed and thank the many tenants who contribute their time, talent, and energy to their communities. I also want to acknowledge upcoming important days and celebrations: Seniors Month, the start of Pride season, and National Indigenous History Month, among many other days of significance celebrated by tenants and staff. I believe the diversity of our tenant population is what truly strengthens our community.
The results of our first Tenant Experience Survey have been collected, and I am happy to provide an update. I want to let you know that there is continued work on many tenant priorities identified in the survey as well as through the Quality Improvement Projects, including safety and security. We will be providing updates on our progress in a report in the coming months. Thank you to everyone who participated and took the time to complete the survey.
I want to mention a video project that we worked on with Buddy Services Centre for Seniors called “Save Our Seniors.” It features several TSHC tenants and staff, as well as members of the community. I encourage you to watch it. It sheds light on the challenges faced by seniors and emphasizes the importance of community support.
TSHC’s 2023 Annual Report is now available on our website, along with the Spring Issue of Seniors Speak. Thank you to all the tenants who contributed to these important publications.
I look forward to seeing many of you in the coming months and hearing how you are doing. Until then, be well.