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Toronto council approves using 11 surplus properties for affordable housing

Thestar.com
December 14, 2018
Jennifer Pagliaro

Council unanimously approved using 11 city-owned surplus lands to try to build new affordable housing on Thursday.

The vote followed a move by Mayor John Tory announcing the use of those city lands, what would contribute to the existing “Open Door” housing program started under Tory’s tenure last term.

It’s unclear how the city plans to achieve Mayor John Tory’s promise of creating 40,000 new affordable housing units over 12 years.

But it’s not yet clear how the lands will be developed, by whom or how affordable the homes will be. Currently, the city’s definition of affordable housing is still 100 per cent of average market rent. Earlier this year, advocates successfully called for a review of that standard, saying more deeply affordable rents are needed for people to not be driven out of the city.

Unclear too is how staff plan to accomplish a goal promised by Tory ahead of the Oct. 22 election of building 40,000 new affordable units over 12 years -- an increase from the current goal of building 1,000 new units annually to over 3,300 per year. That target was dwarfed by the other top mayoral contender, the city’s former chief planner Jennifer Keesmaat, who said 100,000 new units could be built in 10 years.

Tory and the city have dubbed the new program involving surplus lands “Housing Now” but it doesn’t appear to actually be a new program. The Open Door program already offered city land on an annual basis at low to no cost in order to incentivize new affordable developments.

Open Door also uses other incentives, like a break on development fees, to encourage builders to create affordable units. To date, the Open Door program has not been successful in meeting even the 1,000-unit target.

Asked by Councillor Michael Thompson (Ward 21, Scarborough Centre) what the current target should be -- what the actual need is across the city -- the city’s affordable housing office director Sean Gadon said they are currently revisiting the old target, saying he heard about the 40,000 target in the news.

“That’s a complex question to ask,” Gadon said, acknowledging that the target of 1,000 per year is too low. “The 40,000 number is a number we’re drilling down on now to see what mechanisms . . . that we can look to help that number of Torontonians.”

Gadon said the “Housing Now” lands would be managed through the Open Door program.

An action plan for how to implement new builds on those new city lands -- which are located in Etobicoke, North York, midtown and Scarborough -- is expected from city staff in January.

Councillor Ana Bailao (Ward 9, Davenport), newly-named chair of the city’s planning and housing committee, moved a successful motion identifying several guiding principles for the sites, including that there be a mix of unit types and sizes, homes that are affordable for a “diverse range of incomes, including deeply affordable homes” and a priority on the sites being leased rather than sold.

Tory agreed in a speech on the council floor that a lease arrangement would be preferable.

A motion from Councillor Gord Perks (Ward 4, Parkdale-High Park) that staff develop a business case for public or social ownership of the housing on those sites failed 9-16.

The eleven properties identified: