Supporting Transitional Housing in Toronto - 3 Cadillac Avenue (Neshama Hospice) - by Councillor James Pasternak, seconded by Councillor Mike Colle

Neshama Hospice is a member of Hospice Palliative Care Ontario and the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association. Toronto is in desperate need of more options for end-of-life care, including through non-profit hospices. Development Charges By-law 1137-2022 specifically recognizes that non-profit hospices are not the type of development that warrants imposition of development charges (i.e., growth that should pay for growth). Through adoption of Item 2022.EX34.1, City Council exempted non-profit hospices from development charges, provided the facility is owned by a not-for-profit corporation and operated on a not-for-profit basis to provide accommodation and end of life or palliative care for terminally ill persons. Neshama Hospice meets this definition. While Neshama Hospice is exempt from development charges and other City fees as a non-profit hospice, the application of Section 42 of the Planning Act through Article III of the Article 415 of the City of Toronto of Municipal Code has resulted in a potential cash-in-lieu of parkland payment of $308,617.31. A non-profit hospice should not be burdened with such a payment, especially when the proposal includes generous and peaceful greenspace for use by the hospice's patients and their families. This motion would ensure that Neshama Hospice will not be subjected to parkland levy or dedication and enable this well-needed facility to proceed to construction.