'Ready to build': Chow says Toronto needs to play active role in building 65,000 rent-controlled homes

A call to extend rent control is one of dozens of recommendations being made in a new report by city staff calling for a multi-billion dollar plan to add 65,000 affordable homes in the city by 2030.

The report by city staff lays out 22 recommendations for “generational transformation” of Toronto’s housing system to urgently build more affordable homes.

“The actions outlined in the report are necessary to restore housing affordability after decades of insufficient government investments across the housing system,” the city said in a release.

Some of the recommendations include stronger coordination among city divisions, agencies and corporations, as well as a larger role for the city in the direct delivery of housing through a city-led development model.

The report calls for a return to the construction of purpose-built rental housing and not-for-profit co-ops, with the ultimate objective of increasing public and non-profit ownership of homes.

Five sites where the city could start building are identified in the report: 405 Sherbourne St.; 150 Queens Wharf Rd; 1113-1117 Dundas St. W.; 11 Brock Ave; and 25 Bellevue Ave.

“We are facing a serious housing crisis,” Mayor Olivia Chow said following a technical briefing. “People in our city (are) finding it really hard to find decent affordable housing.”

Chow said it is time for government to get back into the business of building housing.

“We did it before, we can do it now,” she said. “The City of Toronto is ready to build.”

The report also calls on the federal and provincial governments to help in a number of big ways, including asking Ontario to extend rent control to cover units built after November 2018.

Other asks of the province include: allocating land to develop new purpose-built affordable and market rental homes; allocating between $500 million and $800 million per year in grant funding to Toronto over the next 7 years; allocating $6.5 billion in low-cost financing and $8 billion re-payable loans to Toronto over the next 7 years; and immediately waiving the PST on all purpose-built rental housing projects.

The report also calls on the province to block appeals for projects with at least 30 per cent affordable housing in which units are guaranteed to be affordable for at least 50 years.

The plan looks to bump up Toronto’s previous HousingTO Plan target of approving 40,000 affordable rental homes by 2030 to 65,000. That would include a minimum of 41,000 affordable rental homes, 6,500 rent-geared-to-income homes, and 17,500 rent-controlled market homes.

Staff estimate the plan will cost between $28.6 billion and $31.5 billion over the next seven years.

Much of that money would need to come from higher levels of government. That would be in addition to the “new deal” for Toronto currently being negotiated with the province.

“In addition to federal and provincial support to deliver the HousingTO Plan, a new fiscal deal is required to support the structural changes that will put Toronto on a path to long-term financial sustainability,” the city said. “Increased labour market capacity in the skilled trades and access to construction materials are needed to significantly scale up the production of new homes.”

Chow has made housing one of her top priorities, as has the Ford government, as people grapple with skyrocketing rent and mortgage costs.

Asked whether some people might be cynical about a plan which requires billions of public dollars to build housing, Chow said there is a cost to doing nothing as well.

“There is no alternative. One way or another, housing needs to be built,” Chow told reporters. “We could continue to spend enormous amounts of money to house people in shelters. We could continue to have encampments, we could continue to hear the emergency department of hospitals in this city saying that we are dealing with homeless people not because they are terribly sick; They’re in the emergency department and our social workers are helping them to find housing.”

Asked about the fact that the plan rests heavily on funding from the federal and provincial governments, Chow said it is important for the city to set a way forward, even if there are obstacles to overcome.

“It's a roadmap. It shows us the direction. Is the path easy? No. But if you don't have a roadmap, you don't know where is your goal, what's your target?” Chow said. “If you don't have a map in front of you, then you’ll wander in the wilderness doing very little. That's not my style. We have to set a target. We have to be really clear how we could get there.”

The report is set to go before the city’s Executive Committee for consideration on Oct. 31.