Local Priority Rules for Rent-Geared-to-Income Housing and Centralizing Access for Affordable Rental Housing

be integrated with the system for selecting households from those waiting for rent-geared-to-income assistance under the Housing Services Act, 2011; b. incorporate the definition of affordable rental housing in the Official Plan for development of new affordable housing under an amended Municipal Housing Facility By-law and the definition of affordable rent in prior versions of the Official Plan and the Municipal Housing Facility By-law for affordable housing projects developed under prior versions of the Municipal Housing Facility By-law; c. require that all new affordable rental housing homes be eligible for benefits under the Municipal Housing Facility By-law to participate in the Centralized Affordable Rental Housing Access System from the waiting lists of community agencies, non-profit agencies or other groups and provided that tenant selection is carried out through a non-discriminatory process satisfactory to the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat; d. permit existing affordable housing projects developed under previous Municipal Housing Facility By-laws to participate in the Centralized Affordable Rental Housing Access System; e. incorporate rules: 1. for determining the eligibility of households to occupy an affordable rental unit; 2. for determining whether a unit that becomes vacant should be occupied by a household that will pay an affordable rent; 3. for determining the priority of households waiting for affordable rental housing; 4. governing the selection by an affordable housing provider of households to occupy affordable rental units that incorporates a choice-based allocation methodology; City Council approves the preference of City staff of a choice-based system outlined in Attachment 3 to the report (June 20, 2022) from the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat and the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, subject to the vendor's ability to provide functionalities within the software; and that system outlined in Attachment 3 to the report (June 20, 2022) from the from the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat and the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning be revised so that in the second year of the new system 75 percent of the units be allocated from the waiting list and 25 percent by random draw; and the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat to report back to City Council on outcomes achieved from the hybrid model, including: a. data on who accessed the homes through the random draw process (including number of successful applications, household income, whether they are part of an equity-deserving group, etc.); and b. recommendations to adjust allocation methodology to ensure those most in need (based on income and other priority criteria), are getting housed first; 5. that deal with households waiting for affordable rental housing that have accepted an offer of rent-geared-to-income assistance or an alternate form of financial assistance; 6. that deal with households waiting for rent-geared-to-income assistance or an alternate form of financial assistance that have accepted an offer of affordable rental housing; and 7. addressing removal of a household from the Centralized Affordable Rental Housing Access System; and f. provide for access to affordable rental housing units to be occupied through referral agreements, where homes are set aside through an approved mandate and filled by the housing provider for specific eligible priority populations. 3. City Council authorize the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat to negotiate and amend, on behalf of the City, the scope of work for the agreement with the vendor of the design and delivery of the choice-based system for the selection of households for rent-geared-to-income assistance, to support the design and development of the Centralized Affordable Rental Housing Access System. 4. City Council authorize the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning to include requirements in all new term sheets to be implemented in all new agreements securing new affordable housing units and new affordable replacement rental units for land owners to advertise and allocate affordable units in a manner consistent with practices for new affordable housing units secured and administered by the Housing Secretariat, including requirements for an approved access plan, income eligibility and the use of a Centralized Affordable Rental Housing Access System. 5. City Council direct the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning and the City Solicitor to bring forward any necessary changes to the Residential Rental Property Demolition and Conversion Control By-law, Chapter 667 of the Municipal Code and to report back in 2023, in order to include reference to the Centralized Affordable Rental Housing Access System for affordable replacement rental units without a returning tenant and potential remedies for non-compliance. 6. City Council amend the local priority rules as part of the Service Manager's system under the Housing Services Act, 2011 for selecting households from those waiting for rent-geared-to-income assistance such that the following will apply effective July 1, 2023, ranked in the following order of priority: a. over-housed households; b. terminally ill; c. tenants living in an rent-geared-to-income unit administered by the City as Service Manager receiving housing supports that are now capable of living independent of the support services; d. applicants experiencing homelessness, including homeless newcomers, where every fifth rent-geared-to-income vacancy is filled by a household experiencing homelessness; e. youth, who are 16 or 17 years old at the time of applying for rent-geared-to-income, applying independent of an adult, where every seventh rent-geared-to-income vacancy is filled with a youth household; and f. Indigenous peoples, where every tenth rent-geared-to-income vacancy is filled by an Indigenous household. 7. City Council confirm the priority for rent-geared-to-income housing for victims of abuse and human trafficking, as established by the Province's Special Priority Program, and that these residents are to be housed as the first on a priority basis, in addition to the City's own local priority groups for rent-geared-to-income housing. 8. City Council direct the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat to report on the Centralized Affordable Rental Housing Access System and the rent-geared-to-income local priority rules through the HousingTO 2020-2030 Action Plan annual progress reports. 9. City Council request the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat, as part of the ongoing consultation on the Affordable Rental Housing Access System, to develop for the public and housing stakeholders revised charts of Allocation Methodology for Affordable Rental Units shown in Figure 1 and Attachment 3 to the report (June 20, 2022) from the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat and the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, and that the revised charts include the role of approved Referral Agencies in filling units through referring eligible tenants to non-profit, co-operative and private sector landlords. 10. City Council direct the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat to develop flexible program mechanisms within the Centralized Affordable Rental Housing Access System to ensure that non-profit, co-operative and private sector operators of affordable rental housing are able to fill units with eligible tenants in a timely manner to prevent operators having vacant units and incurring revenue losses. 11. City Council request the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat to maximize the success of developing the new Centralized Affordable Rental Housing Access System by including representatives of current non-profit, co-operative and private sector operators of affordable rental housing in the co-design, implementation planning and timing of the Access System being developed by the City and the City's Vendor of Record.