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Today, Mayor John Tory announced incentives for seven new affordable and supportive housing developments that are part of Phase Two of the federal Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI), a federal capital funding program that aims to rapidly create new affordable rental housing for marginalized people who are currently experiencing, or are at risk of homelessness. The projects will create a total of 260 new affordable and supportive homes in Toronto, and will grow the capacity and expertise of Toronto’s non-profit housing development sector.
The seven projects include 525 Markham Road, 136 Kingston Road, 1120 Ossington Avenue, 150 Eighth Street, 60 Bowden Street, 1080 Queen Street East, and 25 Augusta Avenue. Two-thirds of the homes being created will provide support services prioritized those who are experiencing or are at risk of homelessness.
“I am committed to getting more housing built," said Tory. "These seven projects announced today demonstrate how our governments and community partners are working together to get more housing built as soon as possible."
The two projects being led by Wigwamen Incorporated and Akwa Honsta – 525 Markham Road and 136 Kingston Road – will create a total of 86 deeply affordable homes for Indigenous peoples, and reflect the City's commitment to allocate more than 20% of its total RHI Phase 2 funding to Indigenous-led developments.
"Supporting Indigenous-led housing projects and creating new supportive and affordable homes is an important part of the affordable housing strategy in our HousingTO 2020-2030 Action Plan, and I look forward to seeing these projects get up and running,” said Tory.
In addition to the funding from RHI, the City has applied its Open Door program incentives to these projects, which will remove development charges, planning and building fees, and subject to Toronto City Council approval, the waiving of property taxes for the duration of affordability – which is for more than 40 years, in most cases – for Indigenous residents and non-profit partners of the initiative.
These projects will play a role in advancing the 24-month COVID-19 Housing and Homelessness Recovery Response Plan, which has a goal of delivering 3,000 new affordable and supportive rental homes, including 2,000 supportive homes for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, and 1,000 housing benefits by the end of 2022.
UrbanToronto will continue to follow updates for these developments, but in the meantime, you can learn more from our Database files for the projects, linked below. If you'd like, you can join in on the conversation in the associated Project Forum threads, or leave a comment in the space provided on this page.
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