Toronto breaks ground on affordable housing project with city as builder

City officials broke ground on Monday on an affordable housing project that will be the first delivered under a new model where the city is the developer.

The project, at 11 Brock Ave. near Queen Street West and Dufferin Street, will contain 42 rent-geared-to-income and supportive units for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. The building, which will be four storeys high, is expected to be completed in early 2026.

Last year, the city received $21.6 million in federal funding for the project.

Each apartment will come with a kitchen and bathroom, plus shared laundry, a commercial kitchen and a common area for programming. Tenants will pay no more than 30 per cent of their income or the shelter allowance of their social assistance on rent. They'll also have access to wrap-around support services to help them maintain health, wellbeing and housing stability.

Mayor Olivia Chow told reporters that there is an urgent need for affordable housing in Toronto, and that the city knows it has a housing and homelessness crisis that is the direct result of three decades of all levels of government not building housing.

Chow said 90,000 people are on the wait list for rent-geared-to-income housing. In addition, there are about 12,000 people living in homeless shelters in Toronto.

"The City of Toronto is back in the business of building housing because we must," Chow said. "If not, people will continue to suffer on the street, in shelters and many of them will die prematurely."

Coun. Gord Perks, who represents Parkdale High-Park, Ward 4, said the ground-breaking is significant because it is drawing attention to the partnership between the city, as a public builder, and the local community.

"This site will be an important place, helping 42 individuals, who require supports to be able to be successfully housed in the city of Toronto, to find a home, a home here in Parkdale where we as a community have been committed for years to the idea that everyone not only deserves a home but has a right to a home," Perks said.

Perks said the site is one of 30 housing developments that the city is building under its public builder model. Under the model, the city leads the work, zones the property, finds the funding and secures a partner who can operate the housing for people who need it urgently, Perks said.

In a news release on Monday, the city said the model means the city is responsible for setting housing targets, expediting development reviews and approvals, and participating in the construction process.

'We need so much more,' head of charity says

Parkdale Activity Recreation Centre (PARC), a charitable organization that operates supportive homes in Toronto for adults with mental health and substance abuse issues, will be the community housing provider for the building.

Victor Willis, executive director of PARC, said the organization is thrilled to be a part of the project but added much more housing is needed quickly.

"We need so much more. This has to be replicated on scale and as fast as possible," Willis said.

The city bought the lot from the Ontario government in 2019 with the intent of turning it into affordable housing.

In July, Toronto city council approved what it calls the "public developer delivery model" to enable the city to build affordable rental homes for low and moderate income residents on city-owned land.

The city said in the release it has four other city-owned "housing ready" sites that will have an "accelerated construction start." They are: 35 Bellevue Ave., 405 Sherbourne St., 1113-1117 Dundas St. W.  and 150 Queens Wharf Rd.  The ground-breaking ceremony for 35 Bellevue is scheduled to take place later this week.

Not all councillors, however, are convinced that the city should be a public builder and that the model is the best use of city resources.

Coun. Brad Bradford, who represents Beaches-East York, Ward 19, said the city as the developer creates more bureaucracy at city hall and could lead to more expenses and slower development timelines.

"Even if you look at this project, 11 Brock, it's been years in the making to break ground today on 42 units. That's wholly inadequate when you look at the order of magnitude of the challenge in front of us," Bradford said.

"The mayor is effectively taking all the risk and bringing it in house, bringing it onto the city, bringing it onto the taxpayers," he added.