The federal government says it is investing $2.7 billion to help build thousands of new rental homes in Toronto.
Prime Minister Mark Carney made the announcement on Wednesday during a news conference alongside Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Gregor Robertson and Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow.
He said that the money will go towards 18 planned housing projects in Toronto that are expected to produce more than 5,600 homes, nearly 2,000 of which will be affordable or deeply affordable.
Of the 18 projects, nine will be built on city-owned lands.
“For decades, the simple fact is Toronto didn’t build enough housing, and too much of what was built was unaffordable for most Torontonians. Prices driven up by development charges, by taxes, by rising construction costs, and then lack of availability of land,” Carney said.
“And the best way to meet the challenge that that has created is to build more supply and to build it faster, to build better with new methods and modern materials, and above all, building in partnership. Building yes with the private sector, but also with non-profits and across every order of government.”
Officials said construction is expected to begin on more than 4,500 of the homes by the end of this year with the entire portfolio expected to reach “substantial completion” by March 2031.
The funding is being delivered through two different streams.
Nine projects on city-owned lands in downtown Toronto, Scarborough, Etobicoke, Parkdale and the waterfront will get more than $310 million through the federal government’s affordable housing agency, Build Canada Homes.
The projects are expected to deliver 1,885 rental homes, 740 of which are affordable units.
“All of these projects had been approved in the past. All of these projects were ready to build. Many of them for a long period of time. All of them were stalled for want of financing until today. Canadian government putting up the capital to get them built,” Carney said.
The other nine projects, meanwhile, will be funded through more than $1.8 billion in financing under the CMHC’s Apartment Construction Loan Program.
These projects are located across downtown Toronto, Leaside, Flemingdon Park, the Junction Triangle, Scarborough and Weston and are expected to create 3,720 units, 1,079 of which are affordable housing.
One of the projects getting a boost is the redevelopment at the former site of the Toronto Coach Terminal downtown.
“What we’re announcing today is a big component of what the type of housing and the scale of housing that Toronto needs - not luxury condos, but homes that people can afford, places that they can build their lives in, places near the subway, schools, grocery stores, stores, for working families, for students, seniors,” Carney said.
Mayor Chow welcomed the investment.
“If your rent is too high, if you’re looking for more spaces to raise a family, if you’ve been waiting for affordable housing for years, it’s coming here in Scarborough and across Toronto. We have thousands of shovels in the ground, cranes in the sky across the city. We will build homes people can actually afford,” the mayor said.
With files from The Canadian Press
