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Social Housing Reform Act (SHRA)

ACTO has spearheaded a clinic campaign to lobby for reform of the SHRA. ACTO has encouraged clinics to work with individual SHRA Service Managers across the province to lobby to the Ontario government to make significant amendments to the Social Housing Reform Act, and also to develop local rules that would improve fairness for tenants under the Act.

ACTO is continuing to make recommendations to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing for reform of the Social Housing Reform Act to reduce the risk of subsidy loss and unnecessary eviction.

ACTO's broad recommendations about the overall approach in the SHRA includes:

There should be an overriding discretion, depending on the circumstances, to refuse to impose a decision;
Time lines should be increased and should be flexible;
There should be a “good faith” component so that housing providers cannot attempt to revoke subsidies for reasons unrelated to the actual merits of the case.
There should be a “substantial compliance” provision to recognize that minor breaches should not constitute grounds for ineligibility; and
There should be a "real substance" provision to allow the service manager or housing provider to look at the broader issues and pattern or activities and beyond the mere form of a transaction that may have taken place.