The city of Toronto is teaming up with partners for a new housing project it maintains will be one of the largest affordable housing developments in Ontario in the past 25 years.
Toronto said the development at 2444 Eglinton Ave. with CreateTO and partners Civic Developments, Windmill Developments and the Co-operative Housing Federation of Toronto will have 918 homes, including 612 rent-geared-to-income and market rent-controlled co-operative homes. No timeline for completion was set.
CreateTO was formed in 2018 to manage the city's real estate portfolio, which includes 8,446 properties, 6,976 buildings and more than 105 million square feet.
"This project is a good example of how the City, not-for-profit housing providers and private developers can work together to get affordable housing built. This will be the largest co-operative housing development in Ontario to date and will serve as a roadmap to help guide future developments," said Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow in a statement.
While a rising interest rate environment has slowed home sales and impacted prices, the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board reported this month the average selling price for all home types in 2023 was $1,126,604, down 5.4% from 2022.
Just behind the Vancouver region, Toronto also has some of the highest rental rates in the country. Rentals.ca reported the December average asking rental rates for apartments in Canada's largest city were $2,913, just behind Vancouver's $3,171 monthly rate.
Under the plan for Toronto's new project, co-op buildings will be owned and operated by the people who live in them through the not-for-profit housing co-operative. A board of directors made up of residents whom the co-op members will elect will govern each of the buildings.
The housing project will include two co-op buildings and a market ownership building. The residences will consist of a mix of studios, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments.
Civic Developments, Windmill Developments and Co-operative Housing Federation of Toronto were selected as the development partners through a market offering process led by CreateTO on behalf of the city in 2021.