Toronto Mayor John Tory reaffirmed housing as a top priority for the city on Thursday, announcing the allocation of nearly $2B in the 2023 budget to support a variety of housing-related initiatives.
“This budget, I’m focused on protecting and improving the nuts-and-bolts services Torontonians rely on and following through to build housing and keep our city safe," Tory said.
The biggest chunk of funding -- $295.8M -- is earmarked for subsidies to the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC), Canada's largest social housing provider. TCHC will also receive an additional $10.8M to help mitigate the impacts of COVID-19.
Toronto's Housing Secretariat, formerly the Affordable Housing Office, has been allocated $146M for operational costs, which include housing development, revitalization and improvement, as well as supports for tenants.
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At the end of 2022, City Council finally passed a bylaw legalizing multi-tenant housing across Toronto, after the vote was twice delayed by Tory, who, at the time, said it did not yet have the support to pass. But with the bylaw passed, the 2023 budget includes $3.5M to implement the legalization of multi-tenant homes.
Another $18.85M is scheduled for the City's Multi-Unit Residential Acquisition program, which provides grants and incentives to non-profit and Indigenous housing providers to purchase, renovate, and operate rental properties for low- and moderate-income Torontonians.
Tory also announced $7.08M for the Eviction Prevention Intervention in the Community program, marking another step up in funding for the program, which received less than $2M in 2020.
In addition to funds from the city budget, Tory says they will call on the provincial and federal governments to provide more housing support, including $48M for support wrap-around services in 2,000 supportive housing units -- 900 more than in 2022 -- and $91.9M to support refugee housing costs.
The budget is set to be presented by Tory in full on January 10, and will be considered by City Council within 30 days.
