In an effort to address the city's growing wait list for social housing, the City of Toronto will offer five municipally-owned empty lots to developers to build affordable units.
Toronto Mayor John Tory made the announcement on Thursday. The move is part of the city's "Open Door" program and aims to kick-start the construction of affordable units in the city. Currently, there are more than 91,000 families on the waiting list for affordable housing.
"We need to do everything we can to build more affordable housing in Toronto, and we need to do it much faster," Tory said in a statement on Thursday. "This action plan will help deliver more affordable housing to people who need it."
The five properties zoned for affordable housing will be offered to developers through a request for proposal process. One of the empty lots includes a large plot of land in CityPlace near the waterfront. The plan aims to have 389 affordable rental or owned units built on them.
The city will also aim to release 13 other municipally-owned sites for potential affordable housing construction in the future.
