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By the Numbers: Housing
It’s all a numbers game, right. Hospitals need $200M, Police budget gets a $5M raise, and Second Cup raises its cup cost to a ridiculous $1.35. So to preface any discussion of homelessness and housing, perhaps we need a little by-the-numbers. In this one instance alone, we’ll let the Star’s suggestion that Mayor Miller be a bit more Mayor Bloomberg (as in, dismally unpopular NYC Mayor Mike) slide, and do a little municipal housing compare and contrast (imagine Miller as Goofus, and Bloomberg as Gallant, or vice versa!):
Number of years by which Mayor Mike promises to end homelessness in NYC: 5
Number of months by which Mayor Miller hopes to bring his homelessness proposal before council: 1
Number of homeless beds in New York: 37,000
Number of homeless beds in Toronto: 4,600
Annual NYC shelter budget: $720,000,000
Annual TO shelter budget: $114,000,000
Number of families placed into permanent homes in NYC in 2004: 7,006
Number of shelters in TO: 65
Ribbon-cutting skills, scale of 1-10, Mayor Mike:5
Ribbon-cutting skills, scale of 1-10, Mayor Miller:6.2
Cost of watch that Britney bought Justin when they were in love: $38,000
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The Mayor’s new plan will see 1,000 new affordable housing units built every year. We hope it passes.