Long-Term Affordable Housing Strategy (LTAHS Sample Clauses

Long-Term Affordable Housing Strategy (LTAHS. Update In March 2016, the province released the LTAHS Update, which reflects new research and best practices that support Ontario’s transformation towards a better housing system, including the design and administration of this program. The LTAHS Update is guided by an updated vision: Every person has an affordable, suitable and adequate home to provide the foundation to secure employment, raise a family and build strong communities. The vision is associated with two overarching outcomes: • Decreasing the number of people who are homeless; and • Increasing the number of families and individuals achieving housing stability. As part of the updated LTAHS, Ontario committed to developing a framework for a PHB. Traditionally, Ontarians in need of housing assistance have relied primarily on receiving RGI assistance and been required to live in specific housing units to receive this assistance. The Portable Housing Benefit Framework (PHB Framework or “the Framework”) – which is now reflected in regulation under the Housing Services Act, 2011 – creates the opportunity for Service Managers to use a PHB as an alternative means towards meeting their service level standards if it is delivered in accordance with the regulation. A PHB provides a monthly subsidy to low-to-moderate income households to assist with housing costs. Unlike RGI assistance, a PHB is tied to an applicant instead of a physical housing unit. A PHB has multiple benefits for recipients: • It gives people on a social housing waiting list a potential option to receive a housing benefit that would give them more flexibility and choice about where they live, so they could choose to live closer to employment, child care, schools or family. • It may help applicants who like where they are living but face affordability challenges to remain where they live. • Relative to the RGI calculation, the PHB calculation is simplified and reassessed annually using income tax information; by moving to an annual benefit calculation, recipients have an incentive to earn income as they do not experience an increase in rent with every change in income. The PHB Framework also provides Service Managers with the opportunity to create more vibrant mixed-income communities due to a greater ability to diversify their housing options. The LTAHS Update also included priority investments into the province’s housing and homelessness systems, including a two-year PHB pilot program for households eligible for the SPP category (SDV- P...