Toronto Council approves action on housing and new funding for Toronto Community Housing

Toronto City Council has adopted three reports, including an unprecedented funding arrangement, that will support Toronto Community Housing’s ongoing transformation into a landlord of excellence.

“These key initiatives will assist TCH as it works to provide people with clean, safe and affordable places to live,” said Councillor Ana Bailão (Ward 18 Davenport), Chair of the Affordable Housing Committee. “I want to thank City Council which has overwhelmingly showed its support for TCH and our social and affordable housing community.”

For the first time, the City has put in place a long-term capital funding plan that will provide $864 million for TCH repairs over the next 10 years. The City has asked the federal and provincial governments to also contribute $864 million each, or one-third of the $2.6 billion in new repair costs TCH will face.

“We expect the federal and provincial governments to step up, rather than step back,” Councillor Bailão said. “That’s why we’ve launched the Close the Housing Gap campaign to persuade them to pay their fair share for social housing and provide a long-term affordable housing plan.”

Council also endorsed a Federation of Canadian Municipalities resolution calling on the federal government to take a range of measures to address the country’s housing crunch.

Also adopted was Putting People First – Moving Forward, a one-year update on some of the major recommendations of the Putting People First report. During the past year, important progress has been made toward putting TCH on a sounder financial footing to better tackle its growing capital repair needs.

In the short term, the City and TCH have unlocked $93.5 million through mortgage refinancing and $65 million through the approved sale of assets, a total of $158.5 million for capital repairs identified just 12 months after Council adopted Putting People First.

An amended shareholder’s direction was also adopted to improve accountability, remove outdated references, update reporting procedures, and increase transparency at TCH.

Toronto is Canada’s largest city and sixth largest government, and home to a diverse population of about 2.8 million people. Toronto’s government is dedicated to delivering customer service excellence, creating a transparent and accountable government, reducing the size and cost of government and building a transportation city. For information on non-emergency City services and programs, Toronto residents, businesses and visitors can dial 311, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.