Mayor's Update: Affordable Housing, #VaxInTheSix and Small Business Support

Mayor's Update: Affordable Housing, #VaxInTheSix and Small Business Support

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We’re continuing to make progress getting residents vaccinated. I’m proud to let you know today that more than 83% of eligible residents are now fully vaccinated and more than 87% of eligible residents have at least their first dose!

This is another milestone in our efforts to get 90% of eligible residents vaccinated. Having more than 83% of eligible residents fully vaccinated is great news - it means millions of people in our city have the best protection possible against COVID-19.

But make no mistake, our work to get residents vaccinated is continuing.

We know that when it’s easy to get the vaccine, more people get vaccinated. As evidenced by the fact that more than 4,000 vaccine doses have been administered in clinics at TTC stations to date. 

That’s why we launched the #VaxInTheSix campaign - six clinics operating at six TTC stations - on Thursday. The initiative started yesterday with 225 doses administered and runs through until tomorrow, Saturday, October 23. All six of these clinics are accessible and have been strategically selected to bring vaccines directly to residents in areas with low vaccination rates.

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On August 15, 409,000 people needed to be vaccinated to reach Team Toronto's goal of having 90 per cent of eligible people in Toronto fully vaccinated and 194,000 of people in that group already had one dose.

Going into this weekend, 196,000 people now need to be fully vaccinated to reach the 90 per cent goal. Of those people, 116,000 have already received a first dose and are on their way to being fully vaccinated.

Progress is happening at a different pace now that we have millions already vaccinated but we continue to move forward, to get closer and closer to our remarkable target.

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As a City, we're committed to creating more affordable housing in communities across Toronto. On Tuesday, we announced the development partners for two Phase One Housing Now sites in Scarborough and North York - 50 Wilson Heights Boulevard and 705 Warden Avenue. The City is moving ahead in its progress on building new affordable and market rental housing, and getting shovels in the ground as soon as possible.

Across these two Housing Now sites, the developer partners will build over 2,000 new homes, including over 1,600 rental homes, of which nearly 800 will be affordable rental homes. The Housing Now initiative will help us achieve this goal while also focusing on creating complete communities with access to transit, public and green space, child care facilities and much more.

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On Thursday, I announced steps that the City is taking to advance the creation and retention of affordable rental and ownership housing in Toronto. Specifically, three reports will help advance these goals, and together, create more than 12,000 affordable homes within the next five years – all of which help the City meet the goals of the HousingTO Action Plan. These include:

  • Phase 3 of Housing Now which will include four new housing sites - taking underutilized city land and turning it into thousands of new affordable homes. 
  • A new inclusionary zoning policy which will create new affordable housing through new development projects - ensuring affordable housing is incorporated in new developments on a consistent basis rather than negotiated on a site-by-site basis. Beginning in 2022, inclusionary zoning will secure 5% to 10% of condominium developments as affordable housing, increasing to 8% to 22% by 2030.
  • The Multi-Unit Residential Acquisition (MURA) program to protect our existing housing stock which will help Indigenous and non-profit housing providers with grant funding and fee waivers to purchase, renovate or convert and operate small apartment buildings and multi-tenant houses into permanent affordable rental housing.

With approval at the Planning and Housing Committee and City Council, these initiatives will ensure we continue to get more housing built. Along with continuing strong partnerships with the other governments and leading this city to a strong and enduring recovery, addressing the supply of affordable housing will top my priority list as Mayor.

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Small businesses are the backbone of our main streets and neighbourhoods. This week, during Small Business Week, I had the opportunity to announce two reports that will be going to Executive Committee next week focused on helping small businesses continue to get through these challenging months while also making our city better for everyone. 

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CaféTO has been one of our most successful pandemic-relief programs - it has positively impacted our city and the many hospitality businesses that call Toronto home. This year, the program is supporting over 1,200 restaurants with expanded outdoor dining opportunities on streets and sidewalks. This number includes 940 restaurants with curb lane closures totalling over 12 kilometres of public space allocated for outdoor dining opportunities.

The program itself adds up to around $5 million in support for the restaurant industry and our main street businesses. This includes providing relief by waiving approximately $1.2 million in application, transfer and permit fees for installations next year.

The City's public survey of more than 10,000 people found a staggering 91% of respondents believed that extended sidewalk and curb lane cafés should be allowed in Toronto, even into the future. I agree with them and we’re going to make it happen.

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We’re also moving forward with new tax relief for small businesses. The report going to Executive Committee next week outlines a plan for eligible small business properties to have a 15% reduction in their property taxes starting in 2022

To be clear, this will not be funded by an increase in residential property taxes, instead city staff recommend it will be funded by the rest of the commercial property tax class which, under the staff recommended proposal, will see a tax increase of less than 1%. I do believe this is a reasonable tax shift; it helps the smaller businesses which need it the most.

This will provide meaningful and substantial relief to small businesses without unduly burdening larger commercial properties. It’s the right thing to do now and the exact policy we need to introduce in our city when we look at pandemic recovery, and how we can ensure that small businesses thrive and succeed. 

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This week, I attended the launch of the ArtworxTO Hub East at Scarborough Town Centre. One of six hubs, this location is also hosting workshops, programs and performances with Scarborough Arts. 

We are investing $10 million over three years in the ArtworxTO initiative because we know it’s the right thing to do. It will bring hope and vibrancy to our city, it will support more than 1,500 artists which will create more than 350 new murals, installations, exhibitions, art events, performances and productions all across our city. I encourage everyone to keep up with all the incredible art coming to places like Scarborough Town Centre as well as across the entire city over the next year.

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This week, Radiant Journey launched along University Avenue - a remarkable light installation on one of our city’s most vital streets.

While “Reimagining University Avenue” has been four years in the making, it comes to our city at the right time. This special light will give all of us hope and inspiration including in particular patients and staff in our wonderful hospitals. University Avenue itself is a gateway to some of the best healthcare in the world - pandemic or not. I’m so thankful for the work that has gone into lifting spirits and bringing light to our frontline workers, patients and Toronto’s residents.

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This morning we announced good news for our City’s finances and the work we are doing to make sure Toronto comes back stronger than ever.

S&P Global, an international bond credit rating firm, has reaffirmed the City of Toronto’s AA credit rating. In their report, S&P noted the City’s “prudent fiscal management” throughout the pandemic. Maintaining a high-quality credit rating is important - it provides access to lower long-term borrowing costs for investments in infrastructure that would benefit all Torontonians and ultimately will save taxpayers’ money.

I have worked throughout this unprecedented pandemic to continue the prudent financial management that our City needs in order to succeed. We have protected all our services, increased the vital services needed to respond to the demands of COVID-19 and we have worked with the other governments to secure needed support. This is the third credit rating agency to maintain the City’s credit rating in the wake of the pandemic and it demonstrates tremendous confidence in our city and its finances. 

This is a vote of confidence in responsible governance. This rating will help our city as the reopening of our economy continues and as I work to continue to attract jobs and businesses to Toronto.

Stephen Graham, CPA

Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA), Financial Management Professional Executive

3y
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