Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

TORONTO 🏗️ City of Toronto Celebrates the Ground-Breaking of 725 New Rental Homes on City Land at 5207 Dundas Street West

Wednesday, 09 August 2023 06:42.PM

Earlier today, Mayor Olivia Chow celebrated the start of construction of 725 new rental homes, including 218 new affordable rental homes, at the first Housing Now site to break ground that will create new mixed-income, complete communities on City-owned land.

The Mayor was joined by Councillor Brad Bradford (Beaches-East York, Chair of the Planning and Housing Committee and CreateTO Board Director), Councillor Paula Fletcher (Toronto-Danforth, Board Director, CreateTO), Abi Bond (Executive Director, Housing Secretariat, City of Toronto), Gregg Lintern ( Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, City of Toronto), Vic Gupta (Chief Executive Officer, CreateTO), Ken Tanenbaum (Vice-Chairman, Kilmer Group) and Andrew Joyner (Managing Director, Tricon Residential).

The development of 5207 Dundas Street West has been awarded to the Kilmer Group and Tricon Residential. The City, in partnership with CreateTO, Kilmer Group and Tricon Residential, is supporting the delivery of this project as part of the Housing Now Initiative, which Toronto City Council approved in January 2019 to activate City-owned lands to stimulate the development of affordable rental housing within transit-oriented, mixed-income, mixed-use and complete communities.

About the development

The site will deliver 725 residential homes, including 30 per cent affordable rental homes, 218 units, and 507 market rental homes. Rents for affordable homes will range from 40 per cent to 100 per cent of the Average Market Rent (AMR). This means that the homes will be affordable to a range of households, including those in need of deeply affordable rental housing.

The development will include a mix of unit types from one-bedroom to four-bedrooms. It will also include retail uses providing amenities and services to support residents’ needs and public spaces for community gatherings and events. In addition, the development will support the City’s climate action objectives and target Toronto Green Standard Version 3, Tier 3, with zero carbon certification.

Investments

The City has invested $77 million to decommission the former Six-Points Interchange, also known as the ‘Spaghetti Junction’ in Etobicoke. Six-Points was replaced by a new network of streets, unlocking almost 18 acres of land and creating seven blocks for redevelopment. The 5207 Dundas Street West development is one of five blocks identified for additional rental housing development through Housing Now. Other blocks include the proposed Etobicoke Civic Centre (ECC) location, a new Toronto Public Library branch, and new City parks. The five development blocks will include at least 2,781 residential homes, 904 of which will be affordable rental homes.

Housing Now

Housing Now is a signature affordable housing program in Toronto and across Canada. It is also a key housing supply program that supports the City’s HousingTO 2020-2030 Action Plan target of 40,000 new affordable rental homes and Housing Action Plan 2022-2026 target of 285,000 homes by 2031. To date, the City has committed more than $1.3 billion in land value, capital funding and financial incentives to the program, making Housing Now one of the most significant municipal financial investments in housing underway today.

Since Housing Now was approved in January 2019, City Council has allocated 21 prime transit-oriented sites. To date, 10 of these sites have been re-zoned and market offerings have been completed for six of them. Construction at two other shovel-ready sites, 50 Wilson Heights Blvd. and 140 Merton St., is expected to begin before the end of this year.

Overall, Housing Now aims to deliver 10,000 affordable rental homes within mixed-income, mixed-use and complete communities by 2030. However, new and enhanced investments from all orders of government and the non-profit and private sectors are critical to meeting this target. Implementation of Housing Now will support the City, Government of Ontario and Government of Canada in meeting their respective housing supply, economic and population growth targets and, most importantly, provide the types of housing needed for individuals and communities to thrive.

On May 11, Council adopted the Housing Now 2023 Progress Update report. The report provided an update on Housing Now. It recommended urgent actions for all orders of government to unlock purpose-built affordable and market rental housing supply in all neighbourhoods across Toronto.

“Building more affordable housing is critical to creating a city that's accessible and inclusive to everyone. The City is committed to increasing the supply of affordable housing so that people of all different income levels and occupations can afford to live here. The City's Housing Now program is a great example of how strong partnerships between multiple levels of government, the private sector, the non-profit sector and the local community can help us build the housing we need. As the new Mayor, I've made building more affordable housing a top priority. I welcome other orders of government to partner with us as we endeavour to build even more affordable housing for the people of Toronto.”
– Mayor Olivia Chow

SOURCE: City of Toronto

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