Exploring the potential for community land trusts in the Church-Yonge corridor

Community Land Trusts are important in achieving long-term housing affordability and have mostly been used in the United States. So why doesn't Canada use more of them? 

Why CLTs?

In a nutshell, community land trusts (CLTs) are non-profit organizations grounded within communities that treat land as a public good. 

CLTs either acquire or receive market-rate land through purchase or donation and they work with local community members to create housing that benefits the community. CLTs stem from activism against gentrification and displacement, helping to secure permanent affordable housing for those with extremely low incomes. In doing so, all planning decisions are led and controlled by the community which allows for equity-seeking and deserving groups to have influence in matters that affect their livelihoods.  

If you are still not convinced of encouraging more CLTs in Toronto, let's take a look at Parkdale and Kensington Market, where residents formed a CLT in response to issues affecting their neighbourhoods. For example, the Parkdale Neighbourhood Land Trust (external link)  was developed to combat gentrification, housing unaffordability, and food insecurity, successfully acquiring properties over the years. Similarly in Kensington Market (external link) , the CLT was formed to keep residential and commercial buildings affordable for local businesses and long-term renters.

The CLT model works great in addressing housing affordability issues where existing policies may lack, especially in the context of Toronto where housing unaffordability is a major issue. Take Inclusionary Zoning (IZ) for example: the policy will take effect later this year and require affordable units (external link)  in new residential developments but it is confined in its top-down, regulatory framework. The same with HousingNow, Community Coordination Plan, and the Open Door program. It is equally as important to consider the role of civic engagement and advocacy in providing affordable housing, which the CLT model does. Community groups, developers, and officials both institutional and governmental should consider CLTs as a complimenting approach to municipal tools in addressing affordable housing.

In order to achieve a CLT model, community leaders must also organize amongst themselves, establish the CLT, and institutional and governmental actors should later offer financial support. In building community planning capacity, CLTs offer strong potential within the Church-Yonge Corridor to center the diverse needs of the neighborhood.

The potential use of a CLT model within the Church-Yonge Corridor can be realized alongside Toronto Metropolitan University by working with local neighbourhood groups, elected officials, and developers.

My proposal is that the university could pilot a non-profit housing project with existing community groups, non-profit developers, and elected officials within the Church-Yonge Corridor by providing one of the university-owned lands. 

How can a CLT be applied at the Church-Yonge corridor?

My call to action comes in two parts: 

First, the local ward city councillor needs to be involved from the community side, especially in her connections with neighbourhood groups and the City of Toronto. Councillor Wong-Tam is a community activist, has innovative partnerships with developers to build new affordable housing, and has tirelessly defended tenants' rights in affordable and rental housing. With her background in community work, her presence would be necessary in the collaboration among stakeholders and the potential formation of a CLT. Wong-Tam's involvement must be continuous throughout the whole process for a successful adoption of the CLT model.

Multiple neighbourhood associations such as the Church Wellesley Neighbourhood Association, St. Lawrence Neighbourhood Association, McGill-Granby Village Residents' Association, Upper Jarvis Neighbourhood Association, and the Garden District Residents Association are non-profit groups surrounding the university and could use their platform to create opportunities for increasing housing affordability. These groups are important stakeholders in potentially piloting a CLT within the Church-Yonge corridor. The tremendous connections they have are important as they build bridges between residents, politicians, businesses, and developers. There are opportunities in working with other groups and social services such as the YWCA and Covenant House to assess the needs of the community and later form a CLT based on shared values. 

Why here? Why now?

Current demographics and economic context justify the benefits of forming CLTs within the Church-Yonge corridor:

• From 2011 to 2016, the neighbourhood has seen a 10.6% increase in population, twice as large as the city average of 4.5%. As the neighbourhood continues to experience high growth as we get out of the pandemic, CLTs provide a way for those in low-income to afford housing.
• A majority of the neighbourhood (70.5%) rent and almost half (45.3%) live in unaffordable housing. Moreover, 28.7% experience poverty and 26.0% are in the low income (LIM-AT) percentile - both higher than the city-wide average. Within this: the younger cohort (ages 0-17) is most at risk for homelessness as they experience poverty the most (33%) compared to other age cohorts.
• Housing in Toronto is becoming more and more expensive. For instance, During the third quarter of 2021, the average lease rate for a bachelor is $1,728. However, in the two years prior, the average lease rate for both 2019 and 2020 was $1,700. This year alone, we have seen rents rising (external link)  as those who have left the city during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic are coming back. This causes major concerns for racialized and newcomer populations. 

CLTs provide a framework as to how community ownership of lands and buildings can drive affordable housing, providing an equitable, inclusive, and resilient post-COVID future. In the context of COVID-19 recovery, we must approach housing differently in Toronto with a lens of social equity, especially in the Church-Yonge Corridor as a bustling neighbourhood where over a quarter of the population is in poverty. 

So, what does Toronto Metropolitan University have to do with this?

Toronto Metropolitan University's  (PDF file) Master Plan has highlighted 136 Dundas Street East as an opportunity site for renovation and redevelopment requiring significant maintenance investment. Located between the south and east areas, there exists an overlap with the university's visions of new residential buildings to respond to the surrounding residential areas and capitalize on its proximity to social services. The currently vacant land has a potential net new gross floor area of +35,000 SF. In November 2021, an application (external link)  for a site plan approval was submitted for a temporary two-storey and three-storey academic buildings with a total gross floor area of 641.79 square metres. So, why not use 136 Dundas as a pilot for non-profit housing in collaboration with a potential CLT? 

In exchange for land within the university, the stakeholders can negotiate; this can take form in the University requiring classroom and faculty spaces in a portion of the building in exchange for the CLT acquiring the building. 

To realize the recommendation, it would require an organization of communities. I acknowledge that this is hard to do within the Church-Yonge corridor as there are multiple neighbourhood associations within the area who have different mandate focuses. Furthermore, development is expensive, especially in the face of the private market. This would require partnerships with developers of similar values. 

This past summer, the City of Toronto helped to transfer 82 of Toronto Community Housing Corporation's (TCHC) buildings (external link)  to the Neighbourhood Land Trust in Parkdale. Also, Kensington Market's CLT recently acquired buildings with the help of Councillor Mike Layton which granted the CLT $3 million (external link)  in acquisition. A common theme here is that the success of CLTs rely on strong municipal support and partnerships with local organizations and institutions. 

Yes, piloting CLTs is very hard, and the success of existing CLTs within Toronto is due to large amounts of funding - but, with the resources that each stakeholder has, fostering these partnerships could be powerful.

The resources are there. Stakeholders just need to have strong will, aligned values, and a shared social responsibility to realize this vision. 

Looking forward

This past summer, the federal government announced that they will be providing $2 million in funding (external link)  to support CLT models with a focus on affordable housing outcomes. With this in mind, the formation of CLTs in Toronto have the potential to gain momentum. As more communities consider CLTs to ensure access to affordable housing for the most vulnerable, understanding the collective role of those within the community and outside of it is the most important factor in realizing this call to action. 

Community development, at its core, is about enabling the public to express their needs and contribute to the formulation of solutions. Residents, as active agents, must move from being passive recipients of services to determining what is needed and how it should be done. If we want to create an equitable and prosperous neighbourhood for future generations, we must seriously consider the role of communities and CLTs do just that.