Toronto City Council has approved a report from staff that could lead to the creation of as many as 10,800 new homes in the city.

The report, titled From Concept to Construction: Creating More Homes Across the Housing Continuum, outlines actions and investments the city can take to support 39 projects in 13 wards across the city to build approximately 10,815 new homes including 3,945 rent-geared-to-income (RGI), affordable and rent-controlled homes across Toronto.

More than $245 million in city funding, loans and incentives have been allocated to help move these housing projects from concept to construction.  

With city council’s approval:

• Nearly $86 million in capital grant funding will be allocated to 14 projects creating more than 3,200 new rental homes including 963 affordable, supportive and RGI homes.
• Nearly $17 million in interest-free loans will be allocated to help community housing providers complete early planning and site preparation work for 13 new affordable housing projects.
• More than 1,000 affordable and community housing-led, rent-controlled homes will benefit from property tax exemptions to maintain rents as affordable for long-term.

There are more than 230 affordable housing projects currently in the housing pipeline including 43 that are under construction. When completed, these 43 projects will create more than 9,500 new homes, including nearly 7,200 that are purpose-built rental, and nearly 70 percent of which will be rent-controlled and affordable rental homes. 

“Toronto City Council has taken another bold step to create more homes in Toronto,” said Mayor Olivia Chow. “We approved actions to speed up development, invest in affordable housing and support community housing projects. This will allow us deliver more than 10,000 new homes in Toronto.”

The city is calling on other levels of government for support to build even more homes.

It says it is ready to continue incentivizing purpose-built rental homes and had requested the provincial government invest $596 million to unlock almost 20,000 new rental homes through the city’s Purpose-built Rental Housing Incentives program.

Toronto is also asking the federal government to increase investment in key Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation funding and financing programs which are critical in getting projects from approvals to construction start.

To expedite the delivery of housing projects such as these, the city has also established a new Housing Development Office (HDO) that will advance the Toronto Builds Policy Framework. 

The framework identifies land owned by the City, its agencies and corporations that can be used for affordable and rental housing opportunities.

It identifies 12 key areas, such as mixed-income communities, tenure, affordability, rent control and unit mix and size. The HDO will streamline processes, align resources and help speed up the development of housing.

The HDO will focus on key Toronto Builds priorities, including: 

• earmarking city-owned land for affordable housing to be developed through cross-sector partnerships,
• collaborating with CreateTO and Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) to deliver housing in a timely and efficient manner,
• overseeing a consolidated list of city-led and city-supported housing development projects and their budgets,
• monitoring the pipeline of city-led and city-supported housing projects, sequencing projects and leverage new or emerging housing opportunities to optimize staff resources, and
• implementing new tools to enable improved transparency and reporting of progress across all City divisions involved in the delivery of housing.

The city says the creation of the HDO allows for a singular point of accountability and oversight of the housing development portfolio, and ensures Toronto Builds projects move forward in a timely and efficient manner.