Item - 2020.PH17.5

The Planning and Housing Committee recommends that:

1. City Council request the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat to adopt the process developed as part of the Rooming House Acquisition Pilot Project, outlined in Attachment 1 to the report (October 5, 2020) from the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat, to support future non-profit led affordable rental and co-operative housing acquisitions based on the availability of City and/or City-administered funding and incentives.

2. City Council direct the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat to report in the first quarter of 2021 to the Planning and Housing Committee on the potential of establishing an ongoing Municipal Small Sites Rental Housing Acquisition Program that provides dedicated funding and financing to non-profit housing organizations or community land trusts to facilitate the purchase and conversion of at-risk private market affordable rental housing into permanently affordable housing.

On July 23, 2018, City Council adopted Item EX36.38, "Potential Rooming House Property Acquisition and Modernization in Ward 14 Parkdale-High Park", and directed staff to undertake a pilot project to select and assist a non-profit organization in acquiring and modernizing a rooming house property available for sale in Ward 4 (formerly Ward 14) Parkdale-High Park. Staff were also directed to report back on the results of the pilot. This report responds to Council's request. Additionally, it provides information on two subsequent non-profit affordable housing acquisitions which were supported through City and federal-provincial funding programs.

Rooming houses, also referred to as multi-tenant houses, provide a critical supply of deeply affordable housing options for many of Toronto's most vulnerable and marginalized residents. However, in the city's current real estate market, this important form of housing continues to be at risk of being lost due to redevelopment and conversion to other uses. In particular, Ward 4-Parkdale-High Park, which has historically had a significant number of rooming houses, has seen a number of these properties lost in recent years due to sales, conversions and redevelopment. This has led to displacement and housing instability for many households.

The City of Toronto has taken a number of actions to protect rooming houses and tenants, in partnership with non-profit housing providers and other orders of government. These actions have included a rooming house acquisition pilot project for Ward 4 - Parkdale-High Park supported by the local Councillor through $1.5 million in Section 37 community benefit funds. An additional $600,000 in federal-provincial funding was also allocated to modernize the property following acquisition.

The pilot project involved a City-initiated Request for Proposals (RFP) process to select a non-profit organization; a pre-approval of City funding that allowed the selected non-profit to move quickly and put offers on suitable properties as they became available on the market; and a process to expedite the allocation of the City funding to complete the transaction while also ensuring appropriate due diligence and oversight. The pilot project resulted in the Parkdale Neighbourhood Land Trust, which was the selected non-profit housing provider, being able to successfully acquire and renovate a 15-unit licenced rooming house which will provide affordable rental homes for tenants for a minimum period of 99 years.

In addition to the pilot project mentioned above, in 2019 the Housing Secretariat administered a competitive process to allocate federal-provincial program funds to non-profit housing providers which resulted in another rooming house being acquired. Additionally, a related acquisition of an affordable rental apartment building was supported by the Housing Secretariat. In total, these three recent acquisitions, all in Ward 4-Parkdale-High Park, have resulted in 63 dwellings units being secured as permanently affordable rental homes for low-and-moderate income residents.

The non-profit acquisition pilot project undertaken by staff in 2019 has provided valuable insights into how the City can support the non-profit sector to successfully acquire and protect deeply affordable rental housing in perpetuity. Together with other recent non-profit acquisition projects supported by the City, a process has been established which can now be replicated and expanded across the city to ensure that rooming houses and other forms of affordable housing are preserved and maintained to provide safe, secure and adequate homes for residents. In order to increase the number of non-profit property acquisitions however, it is critical that ongoing funding be available, including federal and provincial funding, to complement City investments.