Parkdale Activity-Recreation Centre

Canada used to build housing.

During the Second World War, a federal Crown corporation built more than 45,000 homes. By the 1970s, all three levels of government treated housing as a public responsibility, backing a system of public, co-operative, and non-profit homes for families, seniors, and people with disabilities.

Then the thinking changed. Through the 1980s and 90s, governments handed responsibility to the private market and cut their own investment. In 1995, federal funding for new affordable housing ended outright. For the next seven years, almost no new non-profit housing was built in this country.

The bet was that private developers would close the gap. They didn't, because they were never trying to. Developers build to generate profit, and housing became an asset to grow wealth rather than a place for people to live.

That's where we are now. In Toronto, the average one-bedroom rents for about $2,400 a month. Someone working full-time at minimum wage would have to spend 98% of their income to afford it. More than 85,000 households are waiting for subsidized housing here, some for 12 to 15 years.

None of this is an accident or a market hiccup. It is the predictable result of a decision to stop treating housing as something people need.

Applying for ODSP can stop people before they start. A package that runs more than a dozen pages, a medical system that's hard to reach, and the weight of having to prove you meet the definition of "disability."

Lisa is a PARC caseworker who sits beside community members through the entire ODSP application: gathering documentation, coordinating with doctors, and turning an overwhelming process into something manageable.

A single person on Ontario Works receives a maximum of $733 a month, frozen since 2018. ODSP is nearly double, with better health coverage on top: prescriptions, dental, vision, and medical transportation.

"If there's any way I can help, even a little, I want to try." - Lisa

Read Lisa's full story and how to connect, link below.
https://parc.on.ca/applying-for-odsp/🔗

PARC members spent two sessions with artists Ellen Bleiwas and Josh Heuman, presented by Koffler Arts, ahead of the exhibition Plague Crystals by Natalia Romik.

Romik builds towers of crystal vessels, each containing a symbol of a “contemporary plagues.” Our members created works reflecting plagues of imperialism, the toxic drug crisis, and immigrant status - sealing small representative objects in glass containers.

These sculptures go on view during the opening weekend of Plague Crystals at Koffler Arts, (180 Shaw St.) opening June 25 to 28, 2026. Follow Koffler Arts for more updates!

Mental health support at PARC is low-barrier and trauma-informed. There is no necessary referral process. When someone is in crisis, support from PARC meets people where they are with respect. That approach goes back to PARC's roots in the psychiatric survivor movement. A ticket to the PARC benefit show on July 23rd helps keep that support running.

Get your ticket at https://tinyurl.com/PARCbenefit

- 9Million, S.H.I.T., Siyahkal, Duchess and Diatribe
- , all ages
- Thursday, July 23, doors at 7
- Tickets start at $20

This is what mental health "care" looked like for most of the last century. Rows of beds in large institutions, far from family. Starting in the 1960s, Ontario began closing those institutions.

The principle behind deinstitutionalization was sound and long overdue. People living with mental illness should be supported in their communities, not confined in distant hospitals. What never fully arrived was the housing, income, and community supports meant to replace the institutions. Parkdale felt that gap directly.

Psychiatric survivors, people who had lived through the system and named themselves on their own terms, started organizing. PARC came out of that moment and opened at 1499 Queen Street West as a place where survivors could find connection.

Our work grew from something those early survivors insisted on, which is that people are the experts of their own lives.

https://parc.on.ca/

Mickey has lived in Parkdale the last nine years, which he remembers because it's when he adopted his cat, Cleo. Mickey first learned about PARC while receiving clinical mental health treatment, and learned we were right down the street from where he lives.

He had walked past members lining up at 1499 Queen Street West many times, not knowing what PARC was. But upon his first time, he says it felt like it was meant to be. "When I heard the 'Rebuilding Lives' quote that PARC uses all the time, it really [resonated] with me, because I came into PARC right as I was working on that."

Being a member of PARC changed how Mickey moved through the neighbourhood. "It feels like I have tons of friends now. When I walk through Parkdale, people always recognize me, and they stop to say hello."

Read Mickey's full story: https://parc.on.ca/what-parc-means-to-me-mickey/

"Will supportive housing make my neighbourhood less safe?" It is one of the most common questions communities raise, and the evidence answers it directly.

Concerns about safety are understandable, especially when people are seeing more visible signs of poverty in their neighbourhood. But in reality, the increased risk of violence falls most heavily on people without housing. Statistics Canada reports that individuals who have experienced homelessness face violence at roughly three times the rate of those who have not. These challenges are the result of people not having stable housing, not the presence of supportive housing itself.

On the specific worry about neighbourhood crime: A Toronto study led by tenants with lived experience examined two supportive housing buildings and found no measurable increase in local crime and no negative effect on property values. 96% of the immediate neighbours and businesses interviewed described the buildings positively (Wellesley Institute / The Dream Team, 2014).

What supportive housing does change is access. It brings harm-reduction services and case management directly into the neighbourhood, and that stability reduces how often residents rely on emergency systems. Denver's randomized trial found people housed had fewer emergency department visits over two years than a control group in treatment-first care (Urban Institute, 2021). Canada's At Home/Chez Soi trial recorded comparable reductions in shelter, hospital, and justice use (Mental Health Commission of Canada, 2014).

Buildings with on-site supports are more stable for the people who live in them, and stable housing reduces reliance on emergency services. That is the foundation we're trying to build on at PARC.

Sources:
Statistics Canada, victimization and homelessness: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002-x/2026001/article/00004-eng.htm
Wellesley Institute / The Dream Team (2014): https://www.wellesleyinstitute.com
Urban Institute, Denver supportive housing evaluation (2021): https://www.urban.org/features/housing-first-breaks-homelessness-jail-cycle
At Home/Chez Soi Final Report, MHCC (2014): https://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca

Our 11 Brock Welcome Committee is in full swing!

11 Brock Avenue is a 42-unit supportive housing building opening in Parkdale later this year. It will be home to people who have a history of being displaced.

The committee meets monthly to plan how to help our new neighbours feel safe and supported as they move in. Volunteers are organizing welcome events, neighbourhood tours, and working with local businesses to put together welcome packages.

We're grateful to be in Parkdale, where neighbours are welcoming our tenants, getting to know them, and letting them know they belong here. Thank you to our volunteers for everything you've done, and keep doing, to get us ready for move-in.

On Thursday July 23rd, PUNKS FOR PARC takes over The Parkdale Hall. Tickets available here: https://buff.ly/CzFrqEz

Every ticket supports affordable housing with on-site services that keep people housed and connected.

All ages. Doors at 7.

This show is happening thanks to support from NOT DEAD YET. Our endless gratitude to them, The Parkdale Hall, and our bands and vendors who will be joining us!

Poster art by the legendary Michael DeForge.

9 MILLION, S.H.I.T., SIYAHKAL, DUCHESS, DIATRIBE and DJ MEG REMY.