Transit-Oriented Communities Update on Downtown Proposals and Affordable Housing

The report outlines the Province's confirmed approach to managing tenant displacement and rental housing replacement in TOCs. The report notes that the Provincial approach does not comply with policies of the Official Plan. City staff have communicated this to the Province and have advocated for the Province to comply with the City's policy. Additionally, the report responds to direction from City Council to assess the feasibility of achieving 20 percent of units in TOC projects as affordable housing. The Province's primary objective of the TOC program is to generate revenue for the Province to offset the capital cost of new major transit projects. The Province's TOC program is not part of an affordable housing program. Nevertheless, based on the terms of the Value Allocation Framework agreement between the City and the Province, the Province will make a value contribution from each TOC site that will support some affordable housing. These contributions are not available to typical private developments. City staff continue to explore options with the Province on how to leverage these contributions to achieve better community benefits outcomes, including affordable housing. Among the options are to pool contributions from several TOCs to achieve better outcomes where costs are lower, or to provide financial assistance at certain TOC projects to position them to qualify for City incentive programs. The Province retains sole authority to allocate TOC value contributions. Further, the Value Allocation Framework specifies that the Provincial contribution would be "up to" 8 percent of the value of the TOC. While Infrastructure Ontario consults with the City on how best to do so, the Province retains discretion on how it will use the funds. Likewise, the value contributions will not be provided to the City but rather will be deployed directly from the Province to the provider of the community benefit(s) funded by the contributions. Finally, with language of "up to" 8 percent as the amount of Provincial value contribution, the City has no certainty what the actual contribution will be, which could potentially be zero percent. City Planning staff retained specialized consulting services to undertake an analysis of several known TOC proposals to understand what might be required to reach 20 percent affordable housing. Results of the assessment indicate that achieving 20 percent affordable housing in TOCs is not feasible without making significant changes to the development proposals, discounting of land value and/or providing additional direct funding. The Housing Secretariat has been consulted in the preparation of this report.

3. City Council direct that Confidential Attachment 1 remain confidential at this time as it pertains to criteria to be applied to negotiations carried on by or on behalf of the City of Toronto and be made public following the execution of the site specific Transit Oriented Community Memorandum of Understanding for the Queen-Spadina Transit Oriented Community. 4. City Council direct that Confidential Attachment 2 remain confidential at this time as it pertains to contains commercial information supplied in confidence to the City of Toronto and be made public upon confirmation to the Deputy City Manager, Development and Growth from the Province that the King Bathurst Transit Oriented Community Letter from the Province is no longer required to remain confidential. 5. City Council direct the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, in consultation with the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat and the Deputy City Manager, Development and Growth, to work with the Province to maximize the affordable housing outcome that can be realized by leveraging the Provincial value contribution from Transit Oriented Community developments to assist in qualifying projects with best cost per door results for City affordable housing incentive programs. 6. City Council direct Deputy City Manager, Development and Growth, the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, and the Executive Director, Development Review to advise future Transit Oriented Community development partners of the City's affordable housing incentive programs in the context of future applications for development of the Transit Oriented Community sites. 7. City Council direct the Chief Planner and Executive Director, City Planning, in collaboration with the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat and the Deputy City Manager, Development and Growth, to continue to assess opportunities to enhance affordable housing outcomes for all Transit Oriented Community proposals as housing programs continue to evolve.