Castlepoint Numa announces affordable rental project

Developer Castlepoint Numa Inc. and WoodGreen Community Services have announced a strategic partnership to deliver and manage 300 to 400 new affordable housing units in Toronto. The units will be across four multi-residential housing projects slated to be built over the next 10 years, the first of which is a 108-unit rental building located at 72 Perth Avenue.

Scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of 2024, 72 Perth Avenue features designs by IBI Architects, with R.J. Burnside & Associates Limited providing civil engineering services on the project.

The building aims to provide housing for the low and middle-income segments of Toronto’s rental market and will include 10 to 15 affordable apartments, which will be priced at about 80 percent of average market rent in Toronto. The units are being delivered without any direct government subsidies.

“This has been in the works for several years and started with agreements with the city on our waterfront sites that demonstrated meaningful, affordable-housing delivery without government subsidy can work on private-sector lands,” said Elsa Fancello, vice-president planning and development at Castlepoint Numa.

Under a memorandum of understanding, Castlepoint Numa and its partners will retain ownership and leverage WoodGreen’s experience to assist in the delivery and management of the affordable units.

“We want to demonstrate that strategic partnerships of this kind can have a significant and lasting impact on people’s lives,” said Anne Babcock, CEO and president of WoodGreen.

“Collaboration is critical to effectively addressing housing challenges in our city and the partnership between Castlepoint Numa and WoodGreen is the kind of cooperative approach that brings together experience, innovation and commitment as we all work together to deliver affordable housing,” said Toronto’s Deputy Mayor Ana Bailão, Mayor John Tory’s designated housing advocate.

Recently introduced legislation, called inclusionary zoning, will require condo developers to set aside five-to-10 per cent of new units located near major transit hubs, for affordable rentals or affordably priced homes beginning in 2022.

“Castlepoint Numa and WoodGreen have jumped ahead of the curve of inclusionary zoning, with these new units committed before the legislation takes effect,” said Alfredo Romano, president of Castlepoint Numa.