Item - 2024.PH16.6

The Planning and Housing Committee recommends that:

1. City Council authorize the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat to negotiate and enter into, on behalf of the City, a municipal housing facility agreement (the City's Contribution Agreement) with the housing provider described in Table 2 in the Financial Impact section of the report (October 16, 2024) from the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat, to secure affordable housing in accordance with the Municipal Housing Facility By-Law (By-law 713-2024) in return for the exemption from taxation for municipal and school purposes, on terms and conditions satisfactory to the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat, in a form approved by the City Solicitor.

2. City Council authorize an exemption from taxation for municipal and school purposes for the properties and periods of time described in Table 2 in the Financial Impact section of the report (October 16, 2024) from the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat, with the tax exemption being effective from the "Effective Date" of the City's Contribution Agreement.

3. City Council authorize the Controller to cancel or refund any taxes paid after the Effective Date of the City's Contribution agreement.

4. City Council direct the City Clerk to give written notice of each By-law authorizing the municipal housing facility agreements to the Minister of Finance, and written notice of each By-law authorizing an exemption from taxation for municipal and school purposes to the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, and to the Toronto District School Board, the Toronto Catholic District School Board, le Conseil scolaire Viamonde, and le Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir, as appropriate. 

In December 2019, City Council approved the Community Housing Partnership Renewal Program (“CHPR”), a new program designed to incentivize former federal non-profit housing providers with expired operating agreements to enter into new agreements with the City. Through the program, community housing providers commit to maintaining their rental housing as affordable, and potentially deepening the level of affordability provided to households, in exchange for a property tax exemption and housing benefits for their residents. The program provides a viable and cost-effective approach to preserve the supply of affordable rental housing in Toronto, representing a fraction of what the City would need to invest to replace them with newly constructed or acquired affordable homes. The Community Housing Partnership Renewal Program has secured approximately 700 affordable rental homes with 6 non-profit housing providers since its inception.

The implementation of CHPR requires site-specific authority from Council to approve individual municipal housing facility agreements for participating community housing providers. The purpose of this report is to obtain Council authority for the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat to enrol Church of Atonement Senior Citizens (“Church of Atonement”), a non-profit housing provider with a total of 76 affordable rental homes, for a 20-year term, into the program. In addition to securing affordable rental homes, agreements under CHPR will deepen affordability for residents through the provision of housing benefits.