Toronto’s affordable housing plan proceeds, but John Tory and council begged to do more

TheStar.com
Jan 24, 2019
David Rider

Mayor John Tory’s inner circle unanimously endorsed a plan to get thousands of low-rent and market-rent apartments built on city land, amid pleas to do more to help Torontonians hit by soaring rents and filling homeless shelters.

“Housing Now,” the proposal to incentivize developers to build 10,187 units on 11 properties across Toronto, goes to city council for debate next week.

Of the 10,187 units, almost one-third would be rented at below-market rates from $549 to $1,372 per month. Another one-third of the one-, two- and three-bedroom units would be average market rent --currently $1,279 for a one-bedroom --and the rest would likely be sold as condos.

Only about 363, or 10 per cent, of low-rent units would be “deeply affordable,” meaning two-thirds of average market rent. Getting builders to create the mixed-income developments would be achieved with about $280 million in waived city fees and other incentives.

Councillor Ana Bailao, a member of Tory’s executive committee and council’s housing advocate, called Housing Now a major start for a city trying to stop people being priced out of homes, and sometimes into the street, without direct financial help from the provincial and federal governments.

“Is it going to solve all the issues? Absolutely not, but it is a big step in the right direction,” Bailão told a packed room at city hall, adding that hopefully, if other governments do bring money to the table, Toronto will be able to give residents “deeper affordability.”

Councillor Joe Cressy, a downtown progressive who is not on Tory’s executive, welcomed the move in a “deeply unaffordable city, a deadly city where people are dying due to a lack of housing.

“Whether you call it a crisis, an emergency, a disaster --whatever you call it, it is urgent and it’s incumbent on all of us to build a more affordable city,” Cressy said.

He predicted efforts at city council to try to make the sites more accessible to low-income earners.

That will likely be welcomed by advocates demanding Tory declare homelessness an emergency and take immediate action to find warm, safe homes for more than 7,800 people now using city emergency shelters, 24-7 drop-ins and cold weather respite programs.

Patricia O’Connell, executive director of Sistering, a drop-in where women sleep in chairs or on mats, noted four homeless people have died in recent week including
Crystal Papineau, a 35-year-old Sistering client who got stuck in clothing donation bin.

“What I don’t understand is why there hasn’t been an uproar from here at city hall,” she told Tory and his colleagues.

“The priorities are wrong, you’ve got to do something. I’m here again begging that this council do something. You have no heart anymore. This city used to have a heart --it treated people well, it looked after people. In the last several years, I don’t see it.”

Amy Slotek, a lawyer who helps homeless Torontonians in trouble, stood and jiggled her 10-month-old son while telling councillors that packed, inhumane shelters are “an emergency that has reached such a critical level that it requires a co-ordinated response from all levels of government.”

Tory assured her and others the plan is just a start while he pursues the province and Ottawa “vigorously” for funds to do more.

The mayor said if it turns out developers won’t deliver the required affordable housing on land long-term leased, Housing Now will “lose my support in its present phase and we’ll have to go back to the drawing board.”

Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam said Housing Now needs to have more below-market rents, and to address Toronto’s dire need for supportive housing for people with mental health and addictions issues and those transitioning from the streets to stable shelter.

“We need a full range of affordable housing options that are properly funded, starting with those solutions that provide immediate supports to those at risk,” she said.