Item - 2022.PH35.25

The Planning and Housing Committee recommends that:

1. City Council request the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, in consultation with the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat, report to the Planning and Housing Committee in the first quarter of 2023 on how the development application review process might be enhanced to prioritize affordable housing and what weight built form and related issues like urban design guidelines should be given in those deliberations; and include in those considerations adding a section about affordable housing to the Project Data Sheet. 

2. City Council request the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, in consultation with the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat, implement any appropriate interim steps that foster the building of affordable housing in all developments, discovered as part of the review undertaken as a result of Recommendation 1.

A January 2019 report, commissioned by the City of Toronto, the Toronto Housing Market Analysis: From Insight to Action, painted a stark picture of the housing market in Toronto and advises:

In the absence of government intervention and action across the housing continuum, Toronto’s low- and moderate-income households will face a grim housing situation. Unremedied, the housing situation in Toronto will produce consequential challenges for equity, cohesion, and economic prosperity in the city.

These conclusions are backed up by a myriad of startling statistics and analysis. For example, the report found there was roughly only one “affordable” unit for every four low-income households (those with incomes of less than $30,000) in the private rental market in Toronto. To provide even one affordable unit for every two low-income households would require about 30,000 new affordable rental units (with rents less than $750 per month).

Toronto City Council has made it a priority to try address this situation.  At the start of the 2018-2022 term, Council created a new standing committee with a focus on housing.  Council also approved the HousingTO 2020-2030 Action Plan and the Housing Now initiative, which in its first 3 phases is projected to result in 4,680 to 4,920 units of affordable housing.

However, there are constraints that prevent the City from using tools other cities have for improving the supply of affordable housing.  For example, we do not have the same tools for eviction prevention available in New York City and British Columbia. As well, the Province has restricted the application of Inclusionary Zoning, a tool used in many American cities like Boston and New York. 

So, we need to develop new tools for getting the most affordable housing possible out of private developments in our city. Though there are practices in the Planning Department to address this, given the depth of this crisis, we should leave no stone unturned. For example, there is no mention of affordable housing on the Project Data Sheet developers submit as part of the application process. This is critical if Toronto is to be the inclusive city of our dreams and for the sake of our future economic prosperity.