Item - 2021.PH29.6

The Planning and Housing Committee:

1. Directed the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat, the General Manager, Shelter, Support Housing and Administration and the Chief Communications Officer, in consultation with interested Councillors, to develop a broad public educational and advocacy campaign on the funding needed from the Federal and Provincial governments required to end homelessness and to meet the targets and timelines in the Housing TO 2020-2030 Action Plan, and to present this campaign at the January 12, 2022 Planning and Housing Committee.

2.  Directed the Executive Director, Housing Secretariat to report back in the fourth quarter of 2022 with a recommended  allocation of the overall 40,000 affordable housing approvals target for seniors.

The Executive Director, Housing Secretariat gave a presentation on HousingTO 2020-2030 Action Plan - 2021 Annual Progress Update.

This report provides an overview of the progress made since late 2020 and over 2021 in implementing the HousingTO 2020-2030 Action Plan ("HousingTO Plan"). It also outlines some key priority areas that the City of Toronto will focus on in 2022.

Over the past year, the City of Toronto and its partners across various sectors have made significant progress advancing the HousingTO Plan, while at the same time, continuing to manage COVID-19 related challenges. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has affected everyone, its impacts on residents across Toronto have not been equal. As seen over the past two years, the pandemic has revealed and deepened inequities for people based on their socio-economic status, age, health status, race and ethnicity, employment status, and housing situation.

In an effort to address some of the inequities which have been emphasized through the pandemic, the City's actions over the past year have focused on prioritizing housing investments through an equity and climate resilience lens, with specific focus on priority groups who have borne the brunt of the pandemic including people experiencing homelessness, seniors, those living in poverty, Indigenous Peoples, Black and other racialized residents, renters, women and members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community. And, while there is still a lot to be done, with the help of other orders of government, community partners, health partners, business leaders, academic sector partners, housing advocates and residents across Toronto, we have made great strides together.

During the past year, a total of 120 homes with support services dedicated to women experiencing homelessness were opened at 389 Church Street; the first two modular supportive housing buildings with a total of 100 units were opened within nine months of first approval by the City Council for people experiencing homelessness; and, with federal and provincial support, great progress was made on advancing the 24-Month COVID-19 Housing and Homelessness Response Plan which will create almost 1,500 new permanent supportive homes for people experiencing homelessness before the end of 2022.

Other key accomplishments in 2021 include City Council's approval of: an Inclusionary Zoning policy; new definitions of affordable housing which will be based on incomes to better support low-and-moderate-income residents; a plan co-developed with Indigenous partners to approve 5,200 new affordable and supportive homes 'for Indigenous by Indigenous' by 2030 with federal and provincial support; a new Multi-Unit Residential Acquisitions program to support non-profit and public acquisition of market properties to create permanently affordable housing; actions and investments to improve conditions for renters through the RentSafeTO Program; and enhancements to the Concept 2 Keys program to expedite the development review of affordable housing applications.

Strong progress was also made on advancing the Housing Now Initiative with four new sites added to the program, bringing the total number of City-owned sites dedicated to creating new mixed-income, mixed-use, and complete communities to 21. In addition, seven of these sites have progressed through the re-zoning process, three of which have development partners selected with construction estimated to begin by early-to-mid-2022. To date, the City has committed over $1.3 billion in City land, financial incentives, and staffing resources to the Housing Now Initiative, making it possible for the City to achieve over 50% of its overall ten-year 10,000 affordable homes approval target through this program in less than three years.

While 2021 has seen unprecedented progress in terms of ramping up the supply of new affordable and supportive homes and increasing housing affordability for residents, there is much more to be done - and the City and partners are well-positioned to deliver even more in 2022.  

As all orders of government move towards a post-pandemic recovery, accelerated and enhanced investments in housing will not only help to address long-standing systemic and structural inequities which have impacted the housing, health and socio-economic outcomes of equity-deserving groups, they will also help increase the resilience of health, housing and homelessness systems. In addition, these investments will create employment opportunities to boost our economic recovery and support climate resilience efforts helping us to 'build back better'.

This report was prepared by the Housing Secretariat with input from various City divisions and agencies including: Strategic Communications, Concept 2 Keys, City Planning, the City Manager's Office, Corporate Finance, Corporate Services Transformation Team, Corporate Real Estate Management, CreateTO, Environment and Energy, Financial Planning, the Indigenous Affairs Office, the Office of Strategic Partnerships, Legal Services, Municipal Licensing and Standards, Revenue Services, Seniors Services and Long-Term Care, Shelter, Support and Housing Administration, Social Development and Finance Administration, Toronto Building, Toronto Community Housing Corporation, Toronto Employment and Social Services, and Toronto Water.