January 21, 2026 at Etobicoke Civic Centre
Hello City of Toronto representatives and guests. Thank you for hosting and participating in these deputations.
My name is Keat Welsh. I am here today on behalf of the Centre for Independent Living in Toronto and the GTA Disability Coalition. CILT is an organization by and for disabled people, I am a staff here.
I am a sick and disabled queer educator, artist and mental health counselor. I grew up in and out of hospitals. I have the lived experience of having a disability that used to be invisible but is now visible. I use a walker or wheelchair depending on the day and my energy levels. I am passionate about how we can mitigate the compounding connection between mental health/stress and increased illness or disability.
I am here today to talk about how vital the investment in accessible deeply affordable housing is to our mental and physical wellbeing.
In the past I personally have experienced what an inaccessible home can do to one’s health and mental health. I have lived in Toronto for almost 20 years and in this time, I have lived in over ten apartments, this co-op where I live now is the first time in my life that I have lived in an accessible home. This is the first time in my life that I am not as sick, I can’t help but think there is a connection between stable, accessible, affordable housing and the reduction of my stress and overall being more well. Perhaps other things in my life are more stable now as well but having a safe and accessible home has definitely contributed to this stability
We know that poverty and homelessness can cause disability and disability marginalization contributes to poverty. It is a vicious cycle for people, and we should all care about this because we all have bodies and minds. It just takes an illness, accident or traumatic event to become disabled. We will all become disabled in our lifetimes. Disability is a human experience, and we need to acknowledge this in our city politics and the city budget. If we plan for disability inclusion now it will be good for the future of our city. Including accessibility as a key feature when developing affordable housing needs to be imperative. Recently new affordable housing builds have been announced, including co-ops but there is no mention of accessibility. Right now, the city also does not have a clear way to gather statistics on the amount of accessible housing or the need so we can only go on community stories. Please start collecting this important data.
People who have access to community and accessible affordable housing often start to thrive despite society being ableist. We can get there; we can lift people up.
Homelessness is disabling. We need to be investing in housing people not policing them. The City of Toronto should reallocate money for the police and invest in deeply affordable, accessible housing. A better world is possible. Living in a co-op has certainly changed my life for the better and helped me to start to thrive. I am lucky to live in a cooperative housing building that was built in the late 70/early 80s, a progressive time in Toronto’s history. Co-ops can be places that provide stable accessible affordable housing and community.
As the city approves and builds new co-ops, which takes time I know. Let’s also extend services to reduce social isolation. The budget includes money for a new senior social isolation reduction outreach program as a part of the library system; it would be easy to also include people with disabilities in this initiative.
Thanks so much for your time. In summary,
- Start collecting data on accessible housing, how much we have and what the need is.
- Reduce the police budget, policing homelessness does not work.
- Build new accessible affordable housing including co-ops. This can also help people age in place.
- Include people with disabilities in new social isolation reduction initiative at libraries.