Toronto vows to build 65,000 rent-controlled homes in bid to combat housing crisis
Toronto City Council has endorsed an ambitious new affordable housing plan that will set out to build 65,000 rent-controlled homes by 2030— but still lacks billions of dollars in funding.
“It is cheaper to build housing for people, rather than put them in shelters,” Mayor Olivia Chow stressed on the floor of council Wednesday.
- Download our app to get local alerts on your device
- Get the latest local updates right to your inbox
Chow touted the $31-billion dollar plan to unlock public land and increase affordable housing targets — in which the city would act as a public builder, alongside non-profits and other levels of government.
“The inability to access safe and secure housing is actually tearing our communities apart,” Deputy Mayor Ausma Malik told CTV News Toronto.
“What we're moving forward today on, is the city stepping up to the urgency and the responsibility within our power to be able to address that.”
The plan seeks to construct 41,000 affordable rentals, 6,500 rent-geared-to-income homes, and 17,500 rent-controlled market homes in the next seven years — which some councillors argued has not been doable through the private sector.
“There is no magic unicorn coming to produce housing,” Coun. Dianne Saxe said during the debate.
Coun. Brad Bradford, who ran against Chow in the mayoral by-election, questioned the City’s ability to act as a public builder.
“The idea that it would be easier, faster and less expensive for government to do that? I think folks who have been around here long enough would certainly suggest that that's not going to be a desirable outcome.”
“We can't be risk-averse when it comes to housing,” Coun. Paula Fletcher argued. “There are so many people that need affordable housing in this city.”
The plan, though, hinges on billions of dollars in government grants. Up to $800 million would be required every year from both Ottawa and Queen’s Park.
The province has vowed to work on a new fiscal deal with Toronto, with the federal government last week agreeing to a seat at the table in those discussions.
“The ball is in the federal government's court,” Chow said Wednesday. “And that ball has been there for a while.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
OPP's mandatory alcohol screening during traffic stops 'not acceptable': CCLA
A spike in impaired driving-related collisions has caused Ontario’s provincial police to begin enforcing mandatory alcohol screening (MAS) at all traffic stops in the Greater Toronto Area -- a move one civil rights group says is ‘not acceptable.’
Maple Leafs down Bruins 2-1 to force Game 7
William Nylander scored twice and Joseph Woll made 22 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the Boston Bruins 2-1 on Thursday to force Game 7 in their first-round series.
Jurors in Trump hush money trial hear recording of pivotal call on plan to buy affair story
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
Southern Alberta store broken into by burly black bear
Staff at a small southern Alberta office supply store were shocked to find someone had broken into the business last week, but they were even more confused when they discovered the culprit was a bear.
Captain sentenced to 4 years for criminal negligence in fiery deaths of 34 aboard scuba boat
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in custody and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
New scam targets Canada Carbon Rebate recipients
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.