Toronto Community Housing lottery highlights housing crisis amid election

Without an affordable place to live, BriarRose Perrier said what she’s looking for relief.

“You got to go to work, go to school, pretend like everything’s all right when you’re not,” she said.

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Three weeks ago, Perrier heard about 110 River St. through the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto. The Toronto Community Housing (TCH) building, which is set to open in early 2019, will have 75 affordable rental units. But there’s a catch in order to move in: You have to win a lottery.

It’s the second time TCH has used a lottery to dole out units.

The organization drew from 3,700 qualified applicants to choose the occupants of 59 units in Regent Park earlier this year.

In order to be eligible for the units, residents’ gross annual income must be less than four times the annual rent of one of the units.

TCH said the lottery is fair because it puts everyone on an equal footing, but Perrier said she disagrees. After hearing more than 3,294 people have signed up for the lottery of the River Street units, she said she isn’t confident about her odds of being selected.

“It’s been hard for me to look at houses and get a place even at market rent,” said Perrier.

“So I doubt that I’m going to get in on a lottery.”

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While crossing her fingers, Perrier said she has been watching what the candidates in Toronto’s election have been promising. Affordable housing has already become a major issue among the mayoral candidates.

At a campaign event Wednesday morning, Mayor John Tory committed to keeping property taxes low if he’s re-elected. Tory said lower taxes are one of the keys to keeping the city affordable.

He also committed to building 40,000 affordable housing units over 12 years, a number his campaign said is a realistic number to achieve.

Tory has banked his ability to forge strong relationships with the federal and provincial governments to get it done.

Challenger Jennifer Keesmaat, who has committed to building 100,000 units over 10 years, said Tory has conflated his relationship with the provincial government. She said underused municipal land is being sold off for luxury condos when it should be used for affordable housing — a jab at Tory’s SmartTrack plan while saying the goal won’t be achieved.

“The tension over who gets access to the housing is a reflection of the fact that we are so far behind in building affordable housing as a city,” said Keesmaat.

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Challenger Saron Gebresellassi said she’s against the TCH lottery, adding neither Tory or Keesmaat have shown they can deliver on housing.

“Under Jennifer Keesmaat and John Tory’s leadership, they did not even build half of the units that they promised to the people of Toronto,” she said.

The TCH has now closed its applications for 110 River St.