A question of whether or not Regent Park has social housing still comes up relatively frequently. Whether you refer to it as public housing, subsidized housing, social housing or community housing, it is all one and the same. Social housing is intended to fill the gap for individuals and households by providing supportive housing, government-funded subsidies and rent-geared-to-income housing that is not available to tenants in the private rental housing market. The concept is that individuals and households that qualify and fall into a specific income range, have a portion of their rent subsidized by the government.
Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) is the largest social housing provider in Canada and the second largest in North America. This means that TCHC owns and operates a portfolio of properties all over Canada, and yes this includes Regent Park. To be specific, the portfolio of TCHC properties falls into two main categories RGI (Rent-Geared-To-Income) and affordable rental homes. Nearly 90% of the housing in the TCHC portfolio consists of RGI type housing with the last 10% being affordable rentals.
The main question that haunts you, and a reason why you are likely reading this blog, is “Does having social housing in Regent Park, automatically make the neighbourhood inferior to others?” Truthfully, individuals that are asking this question, usually have a poor understanding of city planning policies. The reality is that social housing is incorporated throughout most downtown Toronto neighbourhoods. Areas that have the best perceived reputations, some of the prettiest neighbourhoods, all have a component of social housing built in. St Lawrence for example, has nearly 1,000 social housing units, yet it has some of the most desirable and expensive real estate in all of downtown. Same concept applies to Yorkville. Yes, believe it or not, there is social housing in Yorkville as well!
To clarify a common misconception, none of the market condominiums or townhomes that exist in Regent Park and that are listed on our website have social housing units within the building. Any social housing that is built in the neighbourhood are separate, standalone buildings and do not make up any of the market properties. This is an important takeaway. At the same time, all new housing in Regent Park, whether market or social is meant to look architecturally cohesive and indistinguishable from one another. An uninformed observer will never realize which building is which. This is what makes the community so seamless.
Prior to the start of the revitalization Regent Park had 2,083 number of deteriorating social housing units. As it stands, there are currently 1,261 new rent-geared-to-income housing units completed, with 189 under construction. There are also 403 new affordable rental units completed, with 24 under construction. By the conclusion of the revitalization, there will be over 2,000 RGI and over 400 affordable rental units in Regent Park.
Next time someone asks you whether or not Regent Park has social housing, you can confidently say yes, and let them know that this fact alone does not undermine property values or the livability and appeal of this thriving Downtown East neighbourhood.
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