In exchange for investing in financial incentives to drive development, the City of Toronto has been allocated $2.55 billion in low-cost financing by the federal government to speed up the delivery of 4,831 rental homes, including a minimum of 1,075 affordable rental homes.
The funding comes from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's (CMHC) Apartment Construction Loan Program (ACLP), which aims to support high priority housing developments during the high-risk construction phase, and was secured after Toronto City Council made multiple requests for the Feds to supply low-cost loans for the development of affordable and purpose-built rental homes in the city.
“Every Torontonian deserves an affordable place to call home," said Mayor of Toronto Olivia Chow in a press release. "Today’s landmark housing agreement will reduce barriers so more than 4,800 homes will be built faster. By working together with our federal partners, we are securing affordable homes in Toronto for generations to come.”
For their part, councillors approved a $234.83-million investment in reforms, including relief from development charges, fees, and property taxes to fuel development.
Set to benefit from the low-cost federal funding are seven rental projects across the city, 20% of which will be affordable rental housing. Among the projects to receive funding are two HousingNow developments, including 705 rental homes at 777 Victoria Park Ave. and 767 rental homes at 50 Wilson Heights Blvd., alongside projects approved in December 2024 under the Purpose-Built Rental Housing Incentives stream.
Chief Technology Officer at HousingNow Mark Richardson was happy to hear about the sizeable loan but says the long-delayed developments at Victoria Park and Wilson Heights could have been a lot farther along if action had been taken earlier.
"Both of those sites were first announced for development by the City in the HousingNow program in under John Tory in December of 2018. So where are we now? Six-and-a-quarter years later, we're finally able to get them out of the ground," Richardson tells STOREYS. "And frankly, the Liberal government in Ottawa could have come to the table sooner with these programs, because they were they were in federal leadership the entire time. It's great that they're coming today, and it's great that we had these projects ready to go. But Wilson heights probably could have broken ground two or three years ago."
Going forward, Richardson hopes to see more deals like the one announced Wednesday.
"We need to create 65,000 units of rental housing, below market, just within the borders of the City of Toronto in the next six or seven years," he says. "Two-and-a-half billion is great. I'm hoping that by the fall we're having another conversation about the next tranche of $3 billion, and we can just keep doing this as long as interest rates are low and the government's willing to guarantee the loans, we just keep doing this over and over and over again."
The largest development to receive funding is Waterfront Toronto's master-planned Quayside development located on 4.9 hectares of City-owned land in the emerging Port Lands neighbourhood. Funding has been directed towards 1,267 new rental homes out of the 4,634 total residential units planned for the waterfront neighbourhood. The federal funding also adds onto the $975 million in federal, provincial, and city investments recently allocated to support 14,200 new homes along Toronto’s waterfront at Quayside and Ookwemin Minising.
“Today’s announcement will support the delivery of 1,267 purpose-built rental homes on Toronto’s waterfront at Quayside. This is in addition to the 550 affordable rental homes that are being accelerated as part of phase one of this development," said President and CEO of Waterfront Toronto George Zegarac. "When complete, Quayside will be home to 7,500 people and host 1,600 jobs. We are working hard to have shovels will be in the ground in 2026 and to welcoming residents in 2030.”
Funding will also go towards 1,226 rental units at 49 Ontario St., 370 rental units at 250 Wincott Dr., 341 rental units at 26 Gilder Dr., and 155 rental units at 3379-3385 Lawrence Ave. E.
In addition to the $2.55 billion, Ottawa has committed $25.8 million over two years to help tackle Toronto's homelessness as a part of the Unsheltered Homelessness and Encampments Initiative (UHEI).
According to social service charitable organization Fred Victor, there are over 12,000 people in Toronto who experience homelessness on any given night, and according to the City's own housing and homelessness research, 10,665 people used Toronto's shelter system the day before today's funding was announced.
The new funding will be utilized, alongside the City's $400 million in financing secured through the province, to help transition those who live in encampments to stable housing.
Initiatives will include working with health, mental health and addictions services to aid those in need of those supports living in encampments, adding 20 front-line city staff to support encampments alongside partner agencies providing enhanced street outreach, and supporting Indigenous-led projects aimed at helping people from those communities who are disproportionately affected by homelessness.
"This funding will assist the City in delivering person-centred, outcome-focused care to help improve the well-being of individuals experiencing homelessness and help them find stable housing as quickly as possible," according to the release.
