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CityPlace Masterplan

Railway Lands - Blocks 32, 36 and 31

As pointed out by EnviroTO from the Toronto Housing website:

http://www.torontohousing.ca/investing_buildings/railway_lands_blocks_32_36_and_31

Railway Lands - Blocks 32, 36 and 31
Toronto Community Housing is responsible for the development of some City-owned properties in the Railway Lands, near Old Fort York. The goal is to design a new community that sets benchmarks for environmental, economic and social sustainability; targets the housing needs of lower-income families; finds a sense of place in a rich local history; and is planned through meaningful consultation with area residents.

The first two blocks to be developed will be Blocks 32 and 36. Together, these properties will have 650 units in four residential buildings and a new Toronto Public Library. About 60% of the total development will be affordable for lower income families, while 40% will be built as market housing. Most of the units in the development will larger and designed for families with children.

Construction is scheduled to start in spring 2008 with the first units available at the end of 2009.

Following shortly after Blocks 32 & 36 will be Block 31. This site will include 325 units of affordable housing, a public elementary school, a Catholic elementary school a community recreation centre and City of Toronto childcare facility.

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Looks pretty good.

Louroz
 
Now this isn't going to be PC--like I give a damn!--but I wonder how the low-income-with-five-kids-crowd will get along with the yuppie DINK set at City Place? Will the new Park become a fight between the have- and have nots? Will a certain ethnic group dominate the "projects" while another dominates the condos? Is this the first instance of a neighbourhood in Toronto (or anywhere lol) where the rich folk live in the Eastend and the poor on the Westside?

One thing I find interesting about many Toronto public housing projects: the cars these supposedly poor people drive are often nicer than the cars driven by the working poor in private rental developments. Anyone else find this observation puzzling?

Basically, what qualifies someone for public housing? I know someone with a condo earning $60k yearly struggling under a mountain of debt; yet because they make $60k they don't qualify for housing assistance. Say you make $20,000 working at a cleaning job, and live in dirt cheap public housing--aren't you further ahead than my friend? (Assuming you save like I do.)

So, I'm just saying it's gonna be an interesting experiment down here, because historically public housing doesn't work! Why is Toronto in the housing biz? Confused.
 
Urbandreamer raised an interesting point regarding the mix of low-income households (families predominately) and those non-public housing residents paying market prices. I think it's a good idea to have mixed-income communities. It's been studied that more people of low-incomes living in mixed-income communities get out of the low-income bracket than those who live in pure low-income communities. The mixed-income dynamic motivates lower-income people to get out of "poverty". However, the sentiments of the market housing residents against the subsidized renters will be a different story.

As for the qualification for public housing assistance, TCHC uses a rent-geared-to-income system. RGI housing means that tenants receive a subsidy so that their rent is equal to about 30 per cent of their income before taxes.

And although private developers are definitely way better at the development process itself, sporadic hand-outs of "affordable" housing units through section 37 agreements just aren't enough to meet the demand.

It'll definitely interesting to see once all the phases of CityPlace are completed.
 
I would have preferred that they create the same number of affordable housing units but spread them across all the CityPlace buildings. This economic mixing is what actually has a chance of working.
 
Actually the St Lawrence Market area works and it isn't completely mixed up. More expensive is found near the market. Then city housing and co-ops with some cheaper condos extend eastward along the Esplanade to Parliament. Seems to work great here.
 
That's a really good article for several reasons. With regard to CityPlace, it sheds some light as to what is planned west of Parade on the northside of Fort York Blvd. It also mentions the planned right-of-way along Fort York Blvd. and how it will connect with a future Bathurst ROW. I like the idea of having as much space as possible under the Bathurst Bridge to allow for a seamless connection between Fort York and the North Linear Park.
 
urbandreamer said:
Basically, what qualifies someone for public housing? I know someone with a condo earning $60k yearly struggling under a mountain of debt; yet because they make $60k they don't qualify for housing assistance. Say you make $20,000 working at a cleaning job, and live in dirt cheap public housing--aren't you further ahead than my friend? (Assuming you save like I do.)
Click to expand...

There's a difference between the reality of having a low-income job with no access to credit and a middle-level of income with personal debt that is accumulated by choice.
 
Am I missing something but where is the Crown-Jewel Signature Tower? IS it TBD? And wasn't there a pond or a creek planned for the Cityplace park?
 
I laugh at the "Jamestown" comments from 4 years ago. I've been living in CityPlace for 2 years now and it's a huge success. Absolutely love it.
 
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