A local community platform is proposing a group of houses, it claims is owned by one of the country’s largest communications companies, be redeveloped into affordable accommodation.
A collection of 13 homes allegedly owned by Rogers and located on Isabella and Huntley Streets in Toronto have been sitting vacant for years according to Toronto Centre Projects. Its proposal is calling on the city to expropriate the unoccupied homes to be repurposed into affordable housing.
The proposal claims that only one of the houses in question is lived in, but that all the others are empty.
“With the exception of a live-in caretaker in one of the houses, these houses have been entirely vacant for multiple years. With an ongoing housing crisis in Toronto, these are important and existing resources that could be housing people. The City of Toronto should pursue expropriation of these vacant homes for use as affordable housing,” the proposal states.
The city told Now Toronto in an email statement that it was not aware of the proposal regarding the expropriation of Rogers vacant Huntley & Isabella homes, but that it continues to support affordability efforts.
“The city supports community non-profit housing groups in the acquisition of affordable rental housing properties through the Multi-Unit Residential Acquisition (MURA) Program in situations where property owners are willing to sell their property,” a spokesperson said.
The MURA Program offers funds to not-for-profit and Indigenous housing organizations in order to facilitate the purchase of at-risk private rental properties that can be converted into long-term affordable homes.
“MURA also allows the City to purchase properties to be operated by the non-profit and Indigenous housing sector under long term leases,” the city said.
Toronto Centre Projects is a platform built to engage community members, keep residents in the know about local projects and foster an environment of support among neighbours.
Now Toronto reached out to Rogers, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
