34 affordable rental units created in Regent Park
Daniels Corp., Sun Life and charity join forces to create ‘unique’ housing opportunity
A new private-public partnership that created 34 affordable units for single mothers in a private rental building in Regent Park is being hailed as “innovative” and something that needs to be replicated in other buildings being constructed in Toronto.
The Daniels Corp., a major builder in Toronto, and financial services firm Sun Life’s new EVOLV building on Nicholas Avenue near River and Shuter streets is a 29-storey market-rent highrise with 346 units that will include 34 affordable two- and three-bedroom units aimed at addressing the scarcity of family dwellings in Toronto.
The 34 units are a result of a lease that Daniels and Sun Life are entering into with WoodGreen, a charitable organization in Toronto that operates Homeward Bound, a training and counselling program that helps single moms who are on social assistance and/or homeless get into college, find jobs and permanent housing.
The agreement has Sun Life and Daniels forming a 40-year lease commitment with WoodGreen that guarantees the long-term affordability of the units.
The city of Toronto, meanwhile, is giving $5.1 million to the initiative through a federal-provincial funding allocation and has also contributed just over $720,000 toward the affordability of the units by providing incentives — waived property taxes for 40 years.
The 34 suites will rent at 80 per cent of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.’s (CMHC) average market rent for those years. For comparison purposes, a twobedroom market unit in EVOLV will rent for $2,550 a month, while a tenant who has graduated from Homeward Bound will rent a similar unit for $1,270 a month.
A three-bedroom market unit will go for $3,300 a month, and WoodGreen’s rent will be $1,410 a month.
“This is going to be very unique, very innovative. It’s bringing 34 affordable units into the marketplace in less than a year. Normally, when people are trying to build affordable housing, it takes four years – including planning, site approval, getting financing in place and actually doing the build,” said Anne Babcock, CEO of WoodGreen.
“With this model, the province and city are coming together with builders and non-profits — you’ve got buildings going up right now,” Babcock said. “If you put this program in place, you can put affordable units in those buildings immediately.”
Mitchell Cohen, president and CEO of the Daniels Corp., said he’s thrilled to be able to create affordable rentals at EVOLV. Daniels has driven a massive 15-year revitalization of Regent Park, a mixed-income redevelopment project on Toronto Community Housing property that has seen the replacement of old rent-geared-to-income units with new ones, along with new market condos, townhouses and other amenities “This is what we do — what the private sector does best is develop and build. In developing and building, we can create opportunities for a not-for-profit like WoodGreen to have units within a building,” Cohen said.
He went on to add that builders like him are in a “really important moment right now” in Toronto and across the country with the low-interest rate environment.
That, he said, has stimulated a lot of interest and actual work in the creation of market rental housing. Pension funds, life insurance companies, real estate investment trusts (REITs) and private developers are all building private sector rental housing, Cohen went on to say.
“That rental housing is under construction in Toronto and there are thousands and thousands of more units in the pipeline in Toronto and across the country.
“How do we harness some of that potential and actually create a program where we developers say, ‘Hey, I can make a contribution to the affordable housing crisis in our city, in the country by providing an opportunity to integrate 10 per cent of the units in my building at 80 per cent of CMHC’s average market rent.’
“So we created a model and went to the city and the city’s affordable housing office was very receptive and major credit to Mayor John Tory. As you know this is a top priority for them — finding new and creative ways to create affordable housing.”
As part of the model, Daniels and Sun Life are forgoing the difference in revenue between 80 per cent of average market rent and market rent for the 40-year period.
The city money partially offsets the differential, but the forgone revenue for Daniels and Sun Life is more than $19 million, Cohen said.
“We look at it as an impact investment. It’s an investment that has tremendous benefit to the community in creating affordable housing for 40 years,” Cohen said.
“There’s no taxable benefit here. It’s not a charitable donation. This is simply saying that companies are engaged in the world of construction and long-term ownership of rental housing can actually do something that impacts the community in a very positive way,” Cohen added.
“Creating new partnerships and working with the non-profit and for-profit sector have played a big role in our ability to meet our housing goals. I want to thank all of our partners for coming together to build a new community that will provide a stable, and welcoming home for single mothers in our city,” Tory said in a statement.
The units will be integrated throughout the EVOLV building, not separated in one area.
Babcock, the WoodGreen CEO, says Homeward Bound, a four-year program, provides moms who qualify — participants must be 18 and over, have custody of their children, and not have legal impediments to participating — get housing and child care and a personal counsellor to help set goals and an action plan.