City of Toronto provides employment services, financial benefits, and social supports to Toronto residents

In this challenging times, the City of Toronto is doing its best to ensure that there is a social safety for people in need.

Employment and Social Services can help with money for food, shelter, clothing and other household costs as well as a range of medical supplies and services for individuals on, or awaiting, Ontario Works or Employment Insurance. Help is also available for residents who are not receiving financial assistance – including help finding employment, bills in arrears, dental services, medication, eyeglasses, medical supplies and devices, and funeral costs.

To apply for financial help, call the Application Centre at (416) 397-0330 or apply online at www.toronto.ca/socialservices. The Employment and Social Services web page also includes an estimator that allows people to quickly and anonymously determine if they may qualify for financial help. All information provided is confidential. more »

Toronto Long-Term Care Homes and Services is seeking new volunteer team members eager for a stimulating, challenging and rewarding experience.

Volunteer support enables long-term care residents to maintain an active, independent and as high quality of life as possible by augmenting and complementing services provided by home care staff. Other areas of volunteer service include arts and crafts, chapel liaison, fundraising, hairdressing, library, musical entertainment, program convenors and special events. more »

Take steps to prevent basement flooding

The City of Toronto is working to make improvements to its complex system of underground pipes, sewers and catchbasins, but these improvements alone cannot completely protect a home from basement flooding. Homeowners must also take action to reduce their risk.

The Basement Flooding Protection Subsidy Program offers owners of single-family, duplex or triplex residential homes a financial subsidy of up to $3,200 per property for implementation of flood protection measures such as back-water valves, sump pumps, pipe severance, capping of the home’s storm sewer connection, and more.

Financial assistance is also available through the Drain Grant Program if the roots of a City-owned tree are blocking the sewer connection pipe between a home’s exterior foundation wall and the property line.

For tips on how to protect your home and more information on the subsidy programs, please visit www.toronto.ca/water/sewers/basement_flooding.htm.

Currently, the City of Toronto has 43 different zoning bylaws inherited from the six pre-amalgamation municipalities. When stacked on top of each other, the volumes containing the current zoning bylaws stand 1.2 metres high and weigh 34.5 kilograms. A draft new City-wide zoning  bylaw is now available online.

The purpose of zoning bylaws is to regulate the use, size, height, density and location of buildings on properties. The City’s 43 current zoning bylaws are similar in content but they differ in their methods of approach. The new draft zoning bylaw proposes a common terminology, structure and set of defined zoning terms applicable across the City. more »

The City of Toronto is spending more than $240 million in 2009 to improve the quality of the city’s roads and bridges and move forward on other transportation programs that support transit initiatives, cycling infrastructure, and pedestrian environments.

In addition, the City has recently received financial support through the federal government’s Infrastructure Stimulus Fund that will allow the City to perform an additional 95 kilometres of road resurfacing and road construction work. Furthermore, $70 million will be spent on other road work in conjunction with watermain and sewer replacement, and initiatives to beautify public spaces.

City staff also repair potholes formed during the winter months. Since January of this year, City staff have repaired approximately 183,000 potholes, costing the City about $3.35 million.

For more information on Toronto’s roads, visit www.toronto.ca/transportation/roads.

Is your contractor licensed by the City of Toronto?

There are individuals who prey upon the unsuspecting public. Be sure to enter into a written contract with a licensed building contractor who has a valid City of Toronto license. To find out, ask the contractor for his/her City of Toronto license number. Verify this information with Licensing Services by calling (416) 392-6700 before agreeing to any work.

The following building contractors must be licensed to operate in the City of Toronto: more »

The City of Toronto invites you to learn how the City works and how you can make a difference.

The City is committed to creating opportunities for the public to play a role in:

• shaping a vision for the future
• planning change in their neighbourhoods
• providing information about the issues debated by City Council
• serving on the City’s agencies, boards, and commissions

Learn how the City works and decisions are made by following the Toronto Civics 101 program online (www.toronto.c/civic-engagement). Topics include local planning, City governance and decision-making, elections, and municipal finances.

For more information, call (416) 392-8592 or 311, or email engagement@toronto.ca.

Eviction Prevention Resources in Toronto

Are you having trouble paying your rent? There may be help available. The City of Toronto and other community agencies offer a number of programs that can help tenants threatened with eviction.

If you are facing problems and need help, the following resources are available to you: more »

Programs will protect the environment and build the economy

The 2010 proposed capital and operating budgets for Solid Waste Management Services and Toronto Water support the City’s priorities and Toronto’s ongoing commitment to waste diversion and infrastructure renewal programs.

The proposed budgets, presented today at a meeting of the City’s Budget Committee, detail the City’s plans for building on the successes of these two important programs by making the investments needed to reach waste diversion goals and speed the pace of infrastructure renewal. The capital budgets contained in these two programs play an important role in the ongoing roll-out of the City’s 10-year, $25.9 billion capital plan announced last year that will maintain and create over 30,000 jobs. more »

Highlights from the Toronto City Council meeting of September 30 and October 1, 2009

Towers proposal in Don Mills

Council decided not to approve a proposal by developer Cadillac Fairview that included a series of residential towers as tall as 26 storeys on a Don Mills site that is zoned for a maximum height of eight storeys. City staff were instructed to continue discussions with the developer. On the related subject of a future community centre for that Don Mills neighbourhood, Council indicated that its preference is a combined community centre and twin-pad arena rather than a stand-alone community centre. more »