Between 2017 and 2021, Toronto lost more than 130,000 affordable units of housing. These losses undermine Toronto's ability to provide affordable housing even as construction of new affordable units is falling short of its planned targets.

 

In the Keelesdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Raising the Roof purchased two apartment buildings with existing tenants that were up for sale on the private market. The apartments offer a mixture of affordable and market-rate units, with the affordable units at significant risk of being lost if it had been sold to a private landlord.

 

Thanks to the support of the City of Toronto's Multi-Unit Residential Acquisition program (MURA), we were able to save these affordable units, and as tenants turn over in the market rate units, rent is reduced or maintained at its affordable rate and offered to people who are on housing waitlists.

 

Our housing services partner, Woodgreen Community Services, provides tenant support, and tenant screening services to ensure that the properties are available to, and meet the needs of, people who are unable to afford rent in the private sector and are at risk of homelessness. As there are unit turnovers and maintenance needs, Raising the Roof engages the services of Building Up, a Toronto based social enterprise contractor, who uses the work as an opportunity to train and employ people with barriers to employment in the trades.