Reduced rent lottery draws thousands of hopefuls

Demand for new subsidized units shows reach of city's housing crisis

Toronto can either be a real estate speculator's paradise, or it can be a place where everyone can afford to live ... it can't be both.

When Toronto City Hall and the developer of a gleaming new highrise launched a lottery for apartments at reduced rents this spring, hopeful households turned out in droves nearly 12,500 of them, each seeking refuge from a worsening housing affordability crisis.

The first phase of the west-end Galleria on the Park development was offering brand-new, city-supported homes aimed at midincome earners, which cost hundreds of dollars less than market rates.

But applicants' chances of moving in, in the end, were a measly one per cent with 135 units available in the draw. And these improbable odds are not an outlier, as new data shows applicants to affordable housing sites across Toronto facing similar or even worse odds.

Since the start of 2023, six new developments with city agreements to offer some lower-cost rentals have opened up applications for their lottery draws.

City hall, for years, has offered incentives to builders who will commit to some lower-cost units in an effort to ease the financial strain for midincome earners and essential workers such as teachers and transit staff with the maximum income for tenants of those units at four times the reduced rent and utilities.

For Galleria's 135 lottery units, that means an income ceiling of roughly $82,000 for a one-bedroom set to cost $1,589 per month, plus utilities - a far cry from the $2,493 rental listing in May, according to rentals.ca and Urbanation. A two-bedroom would cost $1,828 each month versus the average citywide listing cost of $3,310; and a three-bedroom would be $2,050 instead of $3,720.