Olivia Chow promises 15,000 new affordable rental housing units
Posted July 4, 2014 2:37 pm.
Last Updated April 13, 2015 12:27 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Olivia Chow announced plans to improve life for Toronto renters, including helping to get 15,000 affordable rental units built in four years, if she is elected mayor.
“People cannot find good rental housing because there’s not enough rental housing being built,” Chow said at a news conference on Friday.
Chow’s plan calls for more mixed-income buildings and developments, similar to the Regent Park revitalization, by calling on private developers to include affordable rental units in their buildings and condo towers.
The plan will entice developers by deferring development fees for 10 years on any affordable rental units in private buildings. The deferral would be extended if the units continued to be rented at affordable rates, which Chow defines as 80 per cent below market rent, as per the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s definition.
She would also fast-track any development requests that include affordable units or for repairs to existing buildings.
“About half the people in our city rent, and we need to be innovative in making these neighbourhoods more vibrant, and safer. We’ve also seen a building boom lately. I want to keep this energy going, and work with the industry to use it to build new affordable units to address our affordability crisis,” Chow said in a news release.
The mayoral hopeful appeared with representatives from two rental housing developers who praised Chow’s vision for renters.
“We’re very proud that she has taken this first step,” said David Green, the president of Greenrock Investments Ltd. “The economics of new development are addressed in a realistic way.”
Chow’s plan also includes plans to loosen zoning restrictions and provide other financial incentives for private landlords of existing towers to revitalize street life and encourage repairs, such as building community gardens and small businesses in the buildings and surrounding green space.
She would also change Toronto Community Housing’s management structure in seniors’ homes to allow for a smaller and more responsive community management system. The program would be expanded to other branches of TCHC if successful, said Chow.
