Prime Minister Carney announces new measures to build affordable housing in Toronto

Thank you very much uh Gregor. Thank you uh Selma for welcoming us here. Thanks to my parliamentary colleagues. Uh thanks to members of city council, all of you. And I I'll just say one thing at the start. You're going to hear a lot about different levels of government working together. And one of the blessings I have uh as um uh in this role is that I have colleagues who've worked at the I'm looking for Dolly. Um there you are. Yes. uh who worked at the provincial level in the city uh uh at the city level here in Toronto city level and Vancouver city level across and that uh helps bring energy insight and a sense of purpose uh to what we're doing. I want to thank u Mayor Chow uh for being here uh today alongside Annabalo our CEO of Build Canada Homes, Colleen Vul from CHC uh and our my colleagues. But the mayor is here and right from the beginning, right from the start when I uh got in this role um and I knew the mayor a bit from uh before, but right from the beginning we agreed that Toronto grows stronger, Canada grows stronger when we work together, when our governments work together, and particularly when we build together. And I know the mayor would also agree that Toronto is one of the world's greatest cities. I think she dropped the qualifier. Greatest cities. Uh fair enough. Yeah. >> I've got a Prime Minister of Canada. I've got to be more uh equal, but uh but greatness, greatness is earned, but greatness is also a magnet. And for generations, people have come from every single corner of the earth to build a new life here in Toronto. And as a consequence, Toronto is one of the fastest growing cities in North America. And that growth comes with, of course, greater demand for social services and greater demand for housing. And for decades, the simple fact is Toronto didn't build enough housing. And too much of what was built was unaffordable for most Torononians. Prices driven up by development charges, by taxes, by rising construction costs and a lack of availability of land. And the best way to meet the challenge that that has created is to build more supply and to build it faster, to build better with new methods and modern materials. And above all, building in partnership. Building yes with the private sector, but also with nonprofits and across every order of government. [applause] And crucial to this is to build a healthy rental market for every kind of renter. And that means Yeah. That means from the federal perspective, it means pulling every le lever that we have and using every tool at our disposal. So before I go into more detail on today's announcement, let me just say a few words about what we've been doing to build momentum in affordable housing over the last 17 months. Just last September, less than a year ago, we started and launched Build Canada Homes, a new federal entity charged with supercharging housing construction across Canada. Fore I would like to inform you that the teleprompter has ceased to function. >> [laughter] >> Unlike a certain world leader, I do not view this as a conspiracy. [laughter] Wheat vent shoot the vamp. So, there's big progress now being made directionally on affordability. We need to do much more to get things where they need to be. That brings us right here. What was a parking lot 2444 Egllandon is now, as you see, a construction site for Kennedy Green. The largest affordable housing development in this province in more than a quarter century. [applause] >> And Kennedy Greens backed by $289 million in financing from the Canadian government. But it's happening not just because of the money, but because we're building together. And that's what partnerships can do. Just four months ago, Mayor Chow and I stood with Premier Ford to announce a new partnership between the federal government and the government of Ontario. One that's cutting taxes and fees on new homes in this province that can mean up to a reduction of $200,000. In June, through that partnership, the city of Toronto secured $1.5 billion dollars to cut residential development charges by 40 to 60%. And that partnership is also building the transit that neighborhoods need to cut commute times to connect people to their jobs, their schools, and their homes. New transit that includes the new waterfront east line that will serve more than 150,000 people. and in and of itself enable 75,000 new homes. That includes expanded all day go service across Greater Golden Horseshoe and rapid transit that reaches deeper into the city than ever before from the Ontario line to, you guessed it, the Scarboro subway extension. for the community. So to today, I'm proud to announce a new housing agreement between the government of Canada and the city of Ontario or s the city of Ontario. It's a takeover. I don't know. I've got Ford on my mind. You got city of the city of Toronto. Government of Canada, city in Toronto. Let's put this in context. [applause] Over the next three years, the government of Canada will invest $2.7 billion. And by the way, that 2.7 billion, that's distinct from what I talked about earlier, that 1.5 billion. We will invest $2.7 billion to build more than 18 housing projects across this city. We're starting by creating more than 5,600 new rental homes that a range broad range of Torononians can afford. North of 1,800 of those homes will be deeply affordable, supportive, or rent controlled. [applause] Thank you. And we're moving fast. You see the shovels behind me. We will have shovels in the ground on 80% 80% of this portfolio. That means more than 4,500 homes by the end of this year. >> Yeah. [applause] As I suggested at the start, every home in this portfolio will be a rental and they span together the entire continuum of rental housing from supportive to affordable homes. And it's a partnership that builds on every component of a healthy housing ecosystem. So what does that mean for Torononians? It means at Scarboro uh at 158 Burough Drive, hundreds of families, seniors, and essential workers will have a home in the heart of the community on the rise behind or beside the civic center and the town center and the new Scarboro Center station. [applause] That's right. coming to you. It means that the Parkdale Hub, a in the West End, a new 16story complex, will move forward, finally creating more affordable places to live in one of the neighborhoods that has been hardest hit by rising rents and rising evictions. Those are just two of the examples of the 18 projects we're announcing today. 18 communities across this city, tens of thousands of new places for Torononians to call home. And we're executing this. We're building through two channels. First, and crucially, is non-market nonprofit housing delivered through Build Canada Homes. And thank you, Anna Balao, for your leadership there. [applause] Specifically, we're investing, the federal government is investing more than $310 million to advance nine projects on city-owned land, nearly 1,900 homes, more than 700 meeting the strict definition of affordable housing. That means that rent will cost less than 30% of a household's pre-tax income. All of these projects had been approved in the past. All of these projects were ready to build. Many of them for a long period of time. All of them were stalled for one of financing until today. Canadian government putting up the capital to get them built. And the city of Toronto contributing one of the most valuable resources a city can offer to improve a project's affordability, which is public land at a nominal value. So, thank you, America. >> [applause] >> And on top of that, the city of Toronto providing more than $530 million in capital and incentives, including a 99-year exemption from municipal and school property taxes. The second channel that we're building on is market rate housing, homes built by the private sector and backed by attractive financing. And this is where the CHC's apartment construction loan program comes in. The federal government through that facility is providing more than $1.8 billion in lowcost financing for nine projects. They will create 3,700 new homes, of which a thousand will be affordable. That includes new rental homes near Corktown on Ontario Street and the redevelopment of the former downtown Coach Terminal just steps from City Hall. I've been there. I went to that coach terminal. Um, we're going further still with up to $600 million in additional financing capacity. So that's additional capacity that's available out of that overall amount as so that the city of Toronto can move forward as soon as other opportunities become ready. So what we're announcing today is a big component of what the type of housing and the scale of housing that Toronto needs. Not luxury condos, but homes that people can afford. Places that they can build their lives in. Places near the subway, schools, grocery stores for working families, for students, seniors. Now, as Gregor mentioned a moment ago, we know it's not just about what we build, as important as housing in, but it's also how we build it. So, we're building inclusively at 15 Dennis Avenue. One of the projects we're building a 100 unit indigenousled supportive housing development. [applause] We're building in solidarity with union workers. The portfolio alone will support over 2,100 jobs every year during construction. And we're building sustainably. You take the project on Dundas Street West where there was a parking lot. We're building a state-of-the-art housing development with mass timber construction, geothermal energy, lowcarbon design strategies. Above all, we're building Canadian with Canadian steel, Canadian lumber, Canadian workers. Now, I'm warming up to hand over to the mayor. So, I'm going to go back to Toronto's greatness. Think of what drives that greatness. A food scene like nowhere else. Research hospitals that lead the world. A tech industry that rivals any other on the planet. Thriving music, film, entertainment industry. But the fundamental greatness of Toronto comes from its people. And the fact is that too many Torononians have been struggling to afford their rent. Today's announcement is a big part of changing that. By building at scale across the entire rental continuum, we're making Toronto a model. Strong communities, safe communities, communities that people can afford. community. We're building Scarboro strong, Toronto strong, and Canada strong for everyone. And we're just getting started.