Rosedale and Chinatown picked as sites for 334 new affordable housing units

Thestar.com
April 15, 2021
Victoria Gibson

Toronto will convert a hotel shelter in Chinatown and an empty former seniors’ home in Rosedale into 334 units of supportive housing, the Star has learned -- the first two projects the city will pursue with more than $200 million in time-limited funds to create new affordable homes.

Officials are expected to announce the projects at 222 Spadina Ave. and 877 Yonge St. on Thursday, leveraging a federal rapid housing initiative that was announced last fall. Under that program, the projects must be completed and ready for occupancy within a single year.

While Toronto is expected to use the funds for roughly 10 projects -- using both its direct allocation of $203 million and extra funds obtained through individual applications -- but negotiations are still underway for the remaining sites. The deal to obtain the Rosedale site closed on Monday, a municipal source told the Star, and the Chinatown site on Wednesday.

Supportive housing integrates services such as health care and employment supports into an affordable rental, meant to provide stability for people who might otherwise struggle to stay housed. The two new projects will be targeted toward vulnerable groups, including seniors, women, people with disabilities and people either at risk for or going through homelessness.

Around 250 people will be housed at the 15-storey Rosedale site in studio and one-bedrooms apartments. That site -- which cost $94.9 million -- will be operated by St. Clare’s Multifaith Housing Society, with 127 people expected to move in by May and the rest in December.

The Chinatown site, which cost $22.3 million, is expected to house roughly 84 people in studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments. It doesn’t yet have a service provider and building operator, but the city is eyeing occupancy in December. Anyone currently staying at the hotel shelter would be relocated to another site down the street, the municipal source said.

While the brick-and-mortar costs are covered by the feds, the support services will be funded by the province, making use of $15.4 million promised to the city by Queen’s Park last week.

As the next federal budget nears, officials in Toronto and elsewhere have called for an expansion of the rapid housing program -- but also changes to its rules and timelines. In Peel, concern has been raised about having to use modular construction for any new builds, and in Toronto, Coun. Ana Bailao has called for the ability to acquire and preserve rooming houses.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities has asked that the program’s funding pool be expanded to $7 billion in the next budget. The federal Liberals have confirmed they’re exploring a funding increase, but said last month that they wouldn’t have an answer until “late spring.”