Photo credit: CBC
The federal government is pledging $2.7 billion over three years to build more than 18 housing projects across the city of Toronto, Prime Minister Mzark Carney announced Wednesday.
CBC reports that the partnership between the government of Canada and the city of Toronto inclides 5,600 rental homes, 1,800 of which will be “deeply affordable,” supportive or rent-controlled, Carney said at a news conference Wednesday. He said 4,500 new homes – 80 per cent of the total – will be under construction by year’s end.
He said the project will take place in neighbourhoods hardest hit by rising rent and evictions, and will include a 16-story complex in Parkdale and another in Scarborough at 158 Borough Drive.
Mayor Chow said the buildings will bring housing security to thousands of people: “If you work here, you should be able to afford to live here,” she said.
“If your rent is too high, if you’re looking for more space to raise a family, if you’ve been waiting for affordable housing for years – it’s coming.”
Projects will be divided into two channels, Carney said.
The first is non-market, non-profit housing, delivered through Build Canada Homes, a federal agency aimed at building affordable housing. This includes more than $310 milion to advance nine projects on city-owned land, he said, which will result in 1,900 homes, with more than 700 of them meeting the definition of affordable housing.
The city of Toronto is also contributing $530 million, including 99-year exemptions from municipal and school property taxes.
The second channel is market-rate housing – homes built by the private sector and backed by “attractive” financing, Carney said. This includes more than $1.8 billion in federal funding for low-cost financing for nine projects, resulting in 3,700 new homes, more than 1,000 of which will be affordable.
The prime minister said the buildings will bring housing security to thousands of people, and referred to them as “not luxury condos but rather places people can afford.”
Among the 18 projects will be an Indigenus-led 100-unit housing development at 15 Denison Ave. and another at 1113-1125 Dundas Street W., built sustainably with timber, geothermal energy and low-carbon design.
The announcement is also happening against the backdrop of Ontario falling behind the province’s stated goal of building 1.5 million homes by 2031.
