Alternative Toronto Housing
By Laryssa Stolarskyj - New Dream Homes and Condos Magazine
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) conducted a tour of alternative housing projects around Toronto. Covering the gamut from “social housing to affordable home ownership to energy efficient and environmentally friendly technologies,” the tour uncovered innovative options that serve as inspiration for housing trends today and for the future.
Mill Street Cooperative
Not-for-profit Options for Homes converted a Distillery District warehouse into affordable cooperative housing for low- to middle-income households. Options is hired as a consultant to owners—it has the development expertise to look after purchasers who want quality at the best price possible and aren’t interested in a heavy amenity package.
As a result, buyers save through the lack of developer’s costs. Founder and president Mike Labbe says what makes it unique is the “initial affordability and sense of community that comes out of the sense of being owner occupied.” Options introduces homes at lower price level, creating more opportunities for tenants to get out of renting for up to $20,000 a year less than a standard condo—about $100 less per square foot on average. This translates to 3,000 to 4,000 new units per year that otherwise wouldn’t have been produced.
“The model is an opportunity to get people to build their own homes, and that’s what’s producing community and affordability,” says Labbe. By bringing people into home ownership, it “ultimately helps the industry and the economy because they can move up.” Options offers a simple product for an attractive price where owners get involved in the process of creating their own homes and can get to know their neighbours before moving in.
Options’ niche market is 70% first-time purchasers who are “high-down payment, moderate-income people who can’t get into the market otherwise and end up being stable purchasers.”
Options hopes to open a project every year. Its next site is a two-phase, 600-unit project at Keele and Dundas, where immediate residents are already buying in. Visit www.optionsforhomes.ca to learn more.
Regent Park
The Regent Park revitalization is underway. Built 50 years ago, Regent Park is Canada’s oldest publicly funded housing community. But the weakening buildings and poorly planned public spaces challenged its safety, and the area was due for a redesign.
The goal of the revitalization is to turn “an aging, deteriorating assembly of buildings, which house approximately 6,500 low-income singles and families, into a new vibrant mixed-income and mixed-tenure community in the heart of downtown,” says Mark Guslits of Toronto Community Housing.
Residents have temporarily relocated for the decade-plus-long project, but they will return to a thriving community with shops and parks instead of the no-thru-traffic island that sits there now.
The new Regent Park will also be sustainable for the future: “All new buildings will be built to a LEED [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design] gold standard and exhibit features that will save energy costs and make the community truly sustainable. A district energy plant will be built under the first building, which will supply heat, cooling, and power to the community.”
How will the new neighbourhood ultimately impact the city? “It will, we believe, change the face of downtown east,” Guslits concludes. “There will soon be a neighbourhood with streets, shops, lanes, townhomes, houses for rent and to own. Regent Park will become part of the urban fabric of Toronto. It will clearly lead to the entire east side changing, growing, and evolving over the next 15 years.” Visit www.regentpark.ca to learn more.
Arcadia Housing Co-op
Since 1986, Arcadia has provided affordable housing for artists and their families near the lakefront.
It’s a non-profit co-operative whose mandate is to establish a permanent arts community in Toronto with a supportive base and appropriate work spaces.
Arcadia is built on a land trust, and that land can only be used for co-operative housing. The members don’t have equity in their units; rather, they pay monthly housing charges based on the annual budget. Members can pay based on their income thanks to CMHC’s housing charge assistance. Arcadia also funds its own subsidy pool through its operating budget, which members pay into.
Among its environmental features is the volunteer-run roof garden, a project several years in the making. Designed by architect Monica Kuhn, the first garden was planted in 1998 and six others have been added since, including an herb garden.
Many of the plants are native species and attract various butterflies, insects, and birds. Rebecca Quigley, manager of Arcadia, points out that the sustainability features don’t stop with the garden. “We have also added solar panels to heat our water, replaced all our toilets, shower heads, and faucets to conserve water, and replaced our hallway lighting to reduce our energy usage.” Residents also contribute their efforts to sustaining their community: “Members have volunteered their expertise and labour to produce the green roof, a workshop, art gallery, theatre, darkroom, and music rehearsal room in our common spaces.”