Quayside: Meeting today's urgent need for housing

PUBLISHED: DECEMBER 17, 2024

In This Blog: 

• We are experiencing an historic housing and affordability crisis at a time when housing starts have also stalled. 

• To address the pressing need for housing, Waterfront Toronto has collaborated with our government partners and our development partner, Quayside Impact, to accelerate the delivery of new market and affordable rental homes at Quayside. 

• Toronto City Council has endorsed a plan to unlock greatly needed purpose-built and affordable rental housing through an incentive program. Quayside was identified as one of the priority projects. 

• This will facilitate the delivery of more than 1,250 purpose-built rental homes, replacing some that were originally planned as market condominiums. 

• We are also accelerating the delivery of approximately 550 affordable rental homes, building about 100 more homes in the first phase of development than originally proposed. 

• Other important benefits being delivered at Quayside include a childcare facility, generous privately-owned public spaces, a community hub and a vibrant mix of retail amenities. 

At a time when housing starts have stalled, yet the need for homes is greater than ever, we have worked with the City of Toronto, government partners, and our development partner, Quayside Impact, to make Quayside part of the solution. At Quayside, we will deliver more than 1,250 purpose-built market rental homes and accelerate the delivery of approximately 550 affordable rental homes in phase one – building about 100 more affordable rental homes faster than originally planned.  

City of Toronto Incentives for Purpose Built Rental Housing 

On November 13, Toronto City Council adopted a staff report Build More Homes: Expanding Incentives for Purpose Built Rental Housing to unlock the development of affordable and purpose-built rental housing. Quayside Impact responded to the Call for Applications and on December 17, the City announced Quayside phase 1 as one of the successful projects selected for the program. View the Staff report listing the successful projects [PDF].

Accelerating Market and Affordable Rental Housing 

The first three buildings in phase one of Quayside will now be built at the same time, which means that more housing will be delivered earlier than originally planned.  

In addition, the housing plan has been modified to introduce purpose-built rental homes, replacing some of the market condominiums originally planned at Quayside.  The City of Toronto’s approval of the Quayside project through the Purpose-Built Rental Incentives stream facilitates the delivery of more than 1,250 units. Further, we are accelerating the delivery of affordable rental housing and delivering more of it faster. This means approximately 550 affordable rental units in phase one – about 100 more homes than originally proposed, achieved by accelerating a portion of the affordable homes planned for phase two.  

The land dedicated for the affordable rental housing will be owned by the City of Toronto and the housing will be delivered in partnership with non-profit affordable housing providers selected through a Request for Proposals issued by the City’s Housing Secretariat. The affordable units will be affordable in perpetuity. The City’s new income-based definition for affordable housing will be applied, being the lesser of 100% average market rent (as reported by CMHC) or 30% of the before-tax monthly income of renter households (usually at 50th-60th percentile of income). Importantly, the mix of units at Quayside will place an emphasis on family-sized units (2+ bedrooms). 

In addition to housing, Quayside will provide other important features, including ample privately-owned public spaces, like the Community Forest. 

A Complete Community with Public Features 

In addition to much needed housing, Quayside will provide other important features, including a childcare facility, ample privately-owned public spaces like the Community Forest, a community hub and a vibrant mix of retail amenities.

Our new waterfront is coming into view 

Waterfront Toronto was built to work with public and private sector partners to not only address problems like the housing shortage but to create destinations and employment areas as well as extraordinary parks and public spaces. For more than 20 years, Waterfront Toronto has been the trusted leader of revitalization, with the experience, expertise and vision to deliver vibrant new places to live, work, learn and play, like the West Don Lands and Bayside.  

Once fully developed, the Eastern Waterfront will become home to over 100,000 people, or roughly the population of Peterborough within downtown Toronto.

With water now flowing in the new mouth of the Don River, our new waterfront is coming into view. Nearly 240 hectares of land are being unlocked through the Port Lands Flood Protection project, enabling the construction of additional urgently needed new homes at Ookwemin Minising (previously called Villiers Island) as well as the city’s largest park network in a generation.   

Next Steps 

Waterfront Toronto, Quayside Impact, and the City will continue working together to secure the required  funding and financing approvals. In parallel, the project team will advance and finalize designs for the buildings and the privately-owned public spaces through the site plan approval process, further informed by Waterfront Toronto’s Design Review Panel and the Quayside Stakeholder Advisory Committee. Shovels are expected to be in the ground in 2026 with the first residents being welcomed in 2030.  

Questions Answered 

Why are these changes necessary, is the market really that bad?   

We are amid an acute housing crisis as well as an historic downturn in the condo market. According to urbanation, it is the worst condominium market since the 1990s. Housing is needed urgently. Rather than waiting for the condo market to return, which could take years, we worked with the City of Toronto and government partners, and Quayside Impact (our development partner), to pivot our approach and advance development, ensuring Quayside is a part of the housing solution.   

Which buildings will provide affordable rental housing and which will be purpose-built market rental? 

There are about 550 affordable rental and 1,250 purpose-built market rental homes planned for Phase 1. As shown in the diagram below, the affordable rental homes are in one high-rise building (1B) on the north side of Quayside, located together (or stratified) with purpose-built rental units, and in three stand-alone buildings along Queens Quay East (1C). Building 2 will be dedicated to purpose-built rental homes. Building 1A, at the north-west corner of the site, will be developed as market condominiums at a later date once market conditions improve.  

What are the next steps for the building designs? 

Until recently the project team was focused on the City approval process for the zoning by-law amendment, which was achieved in July 2024.  

Now that the rezoning is adopted and the housing plan has shifted, the project team will advance and finalize designs for the privately-owned public spaces and the buildings through the site plan approval process, further informed by Waterfront Toronto’s Design Review Panel and the Quayside Stakeholder Advisory Committee. 

When will this be coming to the Design Review Panel?  

The first building is expected to come to the Design Review Panel early next year. 

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