A City of Toronto staff report is recommending a massive boost in residential home construction in the city in an effort to get housing affordability under control. The report, which will be presented at a housing and planning committee meeting this week, sets an ambitious construction target of 285,000 homes to be built by 2031.
The target represents a 23 per cent increase in Toronto’s housing supply within 10 years, and a doubling of the number of housing units built each year compared to the average over the last five years.
Toronto already has more “cranes in the sky” than any other city in North America at 238, 139 of them residential-related, and streets are clogged with construction activities from condos to subway lines. The city also has amongst the worst traffic congestion on the planet.
Now, double it.
“The City of Toronto supports getting more housing built. We have already taken action as a City government to speed up housing approvals and do everything we can to support more homes being built. Committing to the Housing Pledge is another important step,” said Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie. “We are demonstrating to all orders of government, stakeholders and community leaders that we are serious about achieving and exceeding the completion of 285,000 homes. The City will do everything in its power to accomplish this ambitious target and we look forward to partnering with the provincial and federal governments as well as the development sector and local communities to realize this goal together.”
The report describes the proposed actions and strategies outlined in the Housing Action Plan that will help ramp up construction to an even greater level:
- official plan, zoning and guideline amendments
- intensification of major growth areas
- advancing housing system policy and program initiatives
- training and trades strategy addressing construction market capacity
- leveraging public land to increase the supply of housing
- preserving the existing rental housing stock
- public accountability and reporting on progress.
The staff report on Toronto’s Municipal Housing Pledge is available on the City’s website .
