Gord Perks City Councillor, Ward 4, Parkdale-High Park

Project applications are now open for artists living in Toronto. Apply here – http://bit.ly/37LMeeG

Cold weather can cause your water pipes to freeze, resulting in no water & expensive property damage. Take steps to protect your water pipes from freezing.

Steps to Help Prevent Frozen Pipes

The application deadline for the PollinateTO Community Grants has been extended from January 8 to January 18, 2021.

Through its PollinateTO grants program, the City funds pollinator habitat creation projects that educate and engage the community.

All resident-led groups are encouraged to apply. More information is available on the City website.

The deadline to apply is January 8, 2021.

The winter holiday meal list of drop-ins and other meal programs operating between Dec 21, 2020 to Jan 21, 2021 is now available on the Toronto Drop-In Network’s website at https://tdin.ca/resource.php?id=712

The document will continue to be updated as new information becomes available. Please visit the webpage regularly to view the most up to date information.

The City of Toronto is cancelling all planned 2020 holiday CampTO camps and winter instructional programs, including Learn-to-Skate and Instructional Ski, to prevent the further spread of COVID-19 as Toronto’s COVID-19 case numbers continue to rise. This decision follows recommendations from Toronto Public Health and the City’s Medical Officer of Health Dr. Eileen de Villa while Toronto remains in the Grey – Lockdown category of the Province of Ontario’s COVID-19 response framework.

The City’s holiday camps were scheduled to run at 30 locations beginning December 21 to align with the winter school break. Approximately 706 participants had registered this year for City holiday camps. This year, there were close to 441 registrations for Learn-to-Skate programs and 4,919 instructional ski spaces. Registration for instructional ski spaces had not yet occurred. The City is issuing refunds automatically to all current camp and Learn-to-Skate registrants. While registrants do not need to request a refund, they can contact pfrcustomerservice@toronto.ca with any questions.

Short-term rental operators renting homes or rooms for periods of less than 28 consecutive days must be registered with the City of Toronto by December 31, 2020, to continue short-term renting in Toronto.

Beginning January 1, 2021, registered operators must start collecting the Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT). After January 1, 2021, the City will take enforcement action against operators who are not registered or are not following the rules. Enforcement action will also be taken against short-term rental companies that allow unregistered operators to list on their platform or contravene the bylaw.

Toronto is currently in the Grey – Lockdown category of the Province of Ontario’s COVID-19 response framework in an effort to reduce and eliminate the transmission of COVID-19, which began on November 23, 2020. During this time, as per provincial regulations, short-term rental reservations made before November 22, 2020 will be honoured regardless of when the rental occurs. No new reservations can be made after November 22, 2020 except for individuals in need of housing.

Despite the current restrictions, the City requires operators to be registered by the December 31, 2020 deadline to continue to short-term rent in Toronto when allowed by the provincial regulations. Registration is a mandatory step to legally rent out homes for short-term stays in the city. Operators are only allowed to short-term rent their principal residence – the residence where they live – and the address used for bills, identification, taxes and insurance.

Information and government-issued identification submitted with the application is validated by the City through a five-day processing period. Operators are strongly encouraged to register and pay the $50 fee as soon as possible to avoid last minute delays at: https://www.toronto.ca/ShortTermRentals.

Once registered, operators must include the valid City-issued registration number on all listings advertising the short-term rental and start collecting the MAT from January 1, 2021. The MAT payment is due on a quarterly basis, within 30 days of the end of the quarter. For example, the first quarter for 2021 will be January 1 to March 31, and the MAT payment will be due by April 30.

Registered operators who have not rented their property in a given quarter must still file a remittance each quarter. Operators are also required to keep a record of all accommodation transactions, including revenue collected and any exemptions that may apply during a reporting period. More information on how to submit MAT payments will be available in early 2021.

The City continues to respond to issues related to short-term rentals on a complaint basis, such as noise, waste and concerns that people are renting homes that are not their principal residence. Residents can contact 311 to report issues. Starting in the new year, complaints can be submitted to 311 online.

The current complaint-based enforcement will be supported by a data-driven enforcement approach.

• Information that the City is collecting from operators upon registration will allow the City to validate that people only short-term rent their principal residences.

• Short-term rental companies will be required to provide the City with data, including operators’ registration number, number of nights rented by rental type, and the address of listings, which will support efforts to ensure that short-term rental rules are being met.
• Data scraping techniques will also be used to pull information from websites where operators post their listings, to identify issues and validate short-term rental activity in Toronto.

Short-term rental companies must ensure that all short-term rental listings on their platform have a valid City registration number. Starting in the new year, the City will begin sharing the registration number, the associated ward, and the first three digits of the postal code of registered short-term rental properties on its Open Data Portal. Short-term rental companies may validate against this list to ensure invalid or unregistered operators are removed from their platforms.

If a short-term rental operator is not compliant with the bylaws, the City will use its authority to cancel registration. If the City cancels an operator’s registration, short-term rental companies are also required to remove the operator from their platforms.

Operators not complying with the regulations are guilty of an offence and if convicted, may be liable to pay fines. Information on fines for specific offences and other short-term rental information for operators and companies is available at https://www.toronto.ca/ShortTermRentals.

Enjoy the sounds of the season with the Junction’s ‘Travelling Carolers’ and support The Sharing Place all from your front porch!

Groups of carolers (4 to 8 people) will be strolling through your neighbourhood singing some of your favourite Christmas/Winter songs on December 19, 20 and 21 between 6 and 7 pm. (Carolers will be masked and socially distanced).

If you would like to donate a gift card, tape this flyer to your mailbox, leave your porch light on and place the gift card in an envelope in your mailbox. One of our carolers will collect your donation from your mailbox.
Suggestions for gift cards include grocery stores, chain coffee shops, or discount box stores.

You may also choose to donate online directly to one of the following local non-profit organizations:

Feed It Forward
FoodShare
Stone Soup Network
The Four Villages
The Period Purse
The Sharing Place
The Stop Community Food Centre

Please visit the JRA website www.torontojra.com to learn more.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the City of Toronto has partnered with community-based agencies that provide mental health and social services to support residents during this difficult time. The City has also remained committed to providing Torontonians with safe opportunities for recreation and prioritized access to the City’s parks and green spaces for fresh air and exercise.

As the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise, continued measures to slow the spread of the virus and protect the city’s most vulnerable residents have created stress and anxiety for many individuals. These mental health pressures are particularly severe for individuals who are faced with challenging circumstances such as social isolation, job loss and illness.

Mental health support

The City launched the mental health support strategy in April 2020 and partnered with key mental health service providers to support the wellbeing of Toronto residents. Partner agencies have reported that almost 88,500 people have either called, texted or sent an online message for support. Of that number, more than 80,300 people received direct mental health support and more than 8,000 people were referred directly to partners for additional support. Preliminary data also indicates that 40 per cent of contacts were seniors, and three per cent of people seeking mental health services were youth. To date, 211 has also reported a total of 42,708 mental health-related web searches regarding issues related to community mental health services, addiction treatment, youth mental health, crisis lines and in-person crisis services.

Toronto residents are reminded that they have access to free mental health services from the safety of their homes. Anyone experiencing anxiety or stress can call 211 to connect with one of 13 mental health service partners for direct phone support. Mental health service information is also available at http://www.211toronto.ca/,as well as through the City’s website at https://www.toronto.ca/home/covid-19/covid-19-protect-yourself-others/covid-19-mental-health-resources/.

Mental health services are available for specific populations, such as: children and youth; seniors; frontline workers; Indigenous, Black, persons with disabilities and LGBTQ2S. These specific service providers include:

• Across Boundaries
• Caribbean African Canadian Social Services
• Crisis Text Line
• Family Services Toronto
• Gerstein Crisis Centre
• Hong Fook
• Kids Help Phone
• Native Child and Family Services of Toronto
• Ontario Psychological Association
• Strides Toronto
• The Access Point
• Toronto Seniors Helpline (WoodGreen)
• Warm Line (Progress Place)

To help support frontline workers, specific mental health resources have been mobilized as part of the City’s Mental Health Support Strategy to support them. Frontline workers with minimal or no mental health coverage are encouraged to call 211, note that they are a frontline worker in need of mental health supports, and they will be connected to specialized counsellors free of charge.

On November 5^th, Councillor Perks and Park Staff held a virtual meeting to discuss proposed designs for a new playground at Close Avenue Parkette (King St W. and Close Ave). Staff shared different design options and gathered community feedback to finalize a design.

The following attachment is the final design for Close Ave Parkette. If you have any questions or comments, please send us an email at councillor_perks@toronto.ca

There’s a city-wide food drive (Toronto Miracle) happening on Saturday December 5^. The general premise is to invite every household to donate 1 non-perishable food item (please check to ensure the donation is not expired). The Junction Residents Association will be promoting and helping to organize a Junction-wide effort in support of Toronto Miracle.

Given the limited time we have to organize, we are asking residents to volunteer to be a Community Captain for their street by signing up using the following portal Volunteer | Toronto Miracle | December 5th Food Drive  Once you have signed up, please email us at junctionra@gmail.com so we can partner with you to arrange local drop off locations, organize pick up routes, support the health & safety plan and collaborate with local food organizations. You will essentially be responsible for inviting neighbours who live on your street and we will support you with everything else.

The JRA also needs volunteer drivers to pick up donations. Please contact us at junctionra@gmail.com if you are interested in helping out.

If you are not able to volunteer to be a Community Captain at this time but would like to donate food, please visit Donate | Toronto Miracle | December 5th Food Drive to do so. Please email us at junctionra@gmail.com we will arrange to pick it up.”