Phil Brown becomes CHRA’s new President
May 15, 2012
After a year as President-Elect, Phil Brown takes over from Bruce Pearce as the President of CHRA, a role he’ll hold until the close of the 2014 AGM. A member of the CHRA Board since 2008, Phil sees CHRA’s reemergence as the national voice for the whole affordable housing sector as “the most promising step we can take together as people and groups who believe that all Canadians need safe, secure and affordable housing.” Citing the 25 percent increase in membership over the past two years, he credits the hard work of the Board under the leadership of his predecessors during that time, Bruce Pearce and David Eddy. “We represent not just more members, but more diverse members – housing providers, municipalities, businesses, non-profits and all 13 provinces and territories. CHRA is emerging as the home for the housing sector.”
Phil is the General Manager of the Shelter, Support and Housing Administration Division at the City of Toronto. The Division funds and administers approximately 90,000 social housing units in the City, oversees the operation of over 60 shelters and a range of supports to help people who are homeless find and keep permanent housing, funds affordable housing initiatives and provides a range of supports to tenants, including administration of the City’s Tenant Defence Fund. As part of the above responsibilities, the Division delivers the federal Homelessness Partnering Strategy and the City’s Streets to Homes program.
Prior to joining the City of Toronto, Phil was senior consultant to the Canadian Home Builder’s Association. Phil has also held senior management positions at Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) over a career spanning more than 20 years, including as Manager of Operations for the Ontario Region of the CMHC and as National Director of Program Evaluation. Phil was a founding board member of the Ontario Social Housing Services Corporation (SHSC) and SHSC Financial Inc.
Phil received a B.Sc. from the University of Bristol and a M.A. from the University of Toronto.