A recent research report released by the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis calls for widespread repairs at Toronto Community Housing, saying many buildings are aging and in disrepair.
“Some 75,000 … units, our homes, will be uninhabitable and will literally having to be boarded up … over the next 7 years.” Mayor John Tory said.
The report estimated 37 per cent of TCHC buildings should be considered as being in poor or critical condition. By the year 2023, less than 10 per cent of units will be in good to fair condition.
The same report cautions that if the buildings in critical condition are not repaired, many will have to be closed.
Using information from the City of Toronto’s open data website, the Toronto Observer has converted the building dates of TCHC units.
It is important to note that community housing buildings with less than six units are not represented in this data. Two units also had no building date given.
The city is contributing $86 million for repairs to the TCHC with Tory requesting Federal and Provincial aid.
A 10-year capital funding plan developed by the TCHC and City of Toronto calls for $2.6 billion to be spent on repairs.
The report outlined the benefits for the provincial and federal governments, saying that they would save a joint $1.7 billion by not participating.
However these savings are offset by the approximately $1 billion in taxation revenue that would be lost.