Our Community Welcomes Canada’s First Social Medicine Supportive House

Friends,

I would like to celebrate with you today’s official opening of Dunn House – Canada’s first-ever social medicine supportive housing site.

Located in Ward 4’s Parkdale neighbourhood at 90 Dunn Ave., this new four-storey modular housing building will provide 51 new rent-geared-to-income and supportive homes for people experiencing homelessness. The new homes will include fully furnished studio apartments with a bathroom and a kitchen in each unit, shared laundry, a commercial kitchen, a dining area, a communal area, and a programming space.

Tenants will benefit from wrap-around social and health services provided by Fred Victor and University Health Network (UHN). This social medicine-led approach – centred on integrating the social determinants of health such as housing and food security and social connection into healthcare delivery – will help tenants attain improved well-being and better health outcomes. In short, Dunn House is not about providing temporary reprieve from homelessness; Dunn House is about providing permanent homes to people experiencing homelessness and a community that enables their recovery journey.

This is a historic moment for our City’s realization of housing as a human right. Recognizing that housing is healthcare, for the first time in Canada housing will be prescribed to individuals who are unhoused and are frequently admitted to the hospital through the UHN emergency departments. As tenants progress in rebuilding their lives, the broader community in turn will benefit from their social and economic contributions and the reduced demand on the city’s shelter and healthcare systems.

I am proud of our community for continuing to be at the forefront of proving what is possible when we choose to prioritize the health and dignity of all our residents. Decades from now when the provision of social medicine is the norm in every community in Canada, people will remember that this model of housing first blossomed here in Parkdale High-Park. 

We are incredibly lucky to be welcoming our 51 new neighbours, who will contribute to us building our best lives, our best community. I am so thankful to all of you who have worked tirelessly to make sure our new neighbours have the best welcome and start, and will continue to work collaboratively to scale the Dunn House model across our city and country.

Sincerely,


In This Week's Newsletter

City-Wide

  • 2025 Budget Consultations
  • City of Toronto hosts Town Hall to discuss 10-Year Plan to Confront Anti-Black Racism
  • 63 Ossington Bus Reroute

Ward 4 

  • Opening of Romero House

Developments

  • 2280 Dundas St W – Loblaws Site, Oct 7
  • 138 Dowling Ave Pre-Application Meeting, Oct 8

City Wide Updates

2025 Budget Consultations

As the 2025 budget process begins, Mayor Olivia Chow is once again launching public consultations. Share what matters to you in our online survey (available in 12 languages) and at one of six in-person and virtual meetings until October 31. Together, we can build a safe, caring and affordable City where everyone belongs.

Learn more at toronto.ca/Budget 


City of Toronto hosts Town Hall to discuss 10-Year Plan to Confront Anti-Black Racism

Today, Mayor Olivia Chow and Deputy Mayor Amber Morley were joined by residents and City of Toronto staff at a public Town Hall to discuss and enhance the priority areas that will inform Toronto’s next Action Plan to Confront Anti-Black Racism. The priority areas are based on community conversations and online survey responses.

A renewed 10-Year Action Plan to Confront Anti-Black Racism (to be presented to Toronto City Council in 2025) will build on the achievements of the inaugural Five-Year Action Plan to Confront Anti-Black Racism. Extensive public consultations to inform the development of the action plan have been conducted since April of this year and culminated at the Town Hall on October 3.

More information on the City’s work to confront anti-Black racism is available at: https://www.toronto.ca/cabr


63 Ossington bus to provide service on King St. W. (Atlantic to Dufferin) - Sept 16 - Oct 5, 2024

The City’s contractor has completed watermain/streetcar track renewal work on King Street West from Dufferin Street to Shaw Street. TTC crews are restoring power to the overhead streetcar wiring. Following this, TTC crews will commission and test the new tracks to ensure the safe operation of streetcars once service is restored.

The completion of road work allows the 63 Ossington bus to be rerouted via Atlantic Avenue and King Street West until October 5.

On October 6, service on the 63 Ossington, 501 Queen, 504 King and 508 Lakeshore routes will be restored to regular service.

More information on this project can be found here:

https://www.ttc.ca/about-the-ttc/projects-and-plans/King-Street-West-Track-Renewal


Ward 4 Updates

Romero House Opening

Romero House has begun leasing the small apartment building at 2387 Dundas Street West, which backs onto the laneway between Edan and Chelsea. 

Romero House has been welcoming refugee claimants to the West Bend neighbourhood since 1991. They own four homes in the neighbourhood and offer transitional housing, immigration and settlement support to families fleeing persecution from around the world. One of the unique features of Romero House is that they have staff and volunteers who live in their housing alongside the families they serve. You may know Mary Jo Leddy, who has been living on Wanda Road for the last 30 years, supporting neighbourly connection.

Romero House is excited to be adding 2387 Dundas to our group of homes. The building will house nine refugee claimant families and three house coordinators and is set to open in mid-October. The house coordinators, Carmen Bezner-Kerr, Mercy Kiplagat, and Marisol Larrea-Clark, have already moved into the building and are excited to get to know you.

Romero House is humbled by the support of countless neighbours over the years. Some welcome people to our community centre, help residents find jobs, or run our weekly food bank. It is exciting to continue to develop these relationships through this new building. They are working hard to maintain a community-centred approach, both within the building and at Romero House as a whole.

Read more: 2387 Dundas Project – Romero House

Get involved: Be a Volunteer – Romero House


Developments

2280 Dundas St W – Loblaws Site

Following the resubmission of the application for 2280 Dundas St West in 2022 and recent reworking of the application, Councillor Perks, City Planning, and the applicant feel it’s appropriate to schedule another virtual Community Consultation Meeting for the evening of October 7th at 6pm, so that the community can become acquainted with the latest iteration of the development of this site.

The current proposal includes seven mixed-use and residential buildings (including five residential towers) on four development blocks. It will offer both ownership and rental housing options, with a new central public park and new street system. It includes approximately 1,923 residential units in a range of unit sizes and includes 735 rental units within 3 rental buildings. Previous community meetings were held for this site in 2018 and 2022.

The meeting on Octobers 7th will consist of short presentations of the development from City Planning and the applicant’s team, followed by a Q&A session. This will be a great opportunity to allow you to view the proposal and share your thoughts.

Councillor Perks, City Planning staff, and the applicant will be in attendance to help answer any questions that may arise. Information on how to register for the meeting will be available shortly and shared in a future newsletter.

Further information on the project and what is being proposed can be found on the City's Application Information Centre website here: https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/planning-development/application-details/?id=5134035&pid=161892.

Looking forward to seeing you there.


138 Dowling Ave Pre-Application 

Please join the applicant and owner of 138 Dowling Avenue for a pre-application community consultation meeting to learn more about their plans for the site, provide comments, and ask questions. Councillor Perks and Development Review staff will also be attendance.

Tuesday, October 8 at 6:00pm

Join here.


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2025 Staff-Prepared City Budget Highlights

Friends,

On Monday January 13th, the City of Toronto launched the 2025 Budget process with a staff-prepared budget that protects and invests in our City’s core services based on feedback gathered during Fall 2024 consultations with Toronto residents.

I am pleased to see a number of new and enhanced initiatives included in the 2025 staff-prepared budget that advance our goals of making Toronto a more affordable, connected, and safe city for all. Key investments include:

Making life more affordable:

  • Feed 8,000 more students through school food programs
  • CampTO food program to support over 31,000 youth

Getting Toronto moving

  • Increase transit service hours by 5.8 per cent (approximately half a million hours) 
  • Expand to 100 Traffic Agents to address blocked intersections, improve travel times in key corridors and decrease collision

Providing community services

  • Expand Sunday service hours for 70 Toronto Public Libraries
  • Increase access to cultural initiatives including local arts, festivals and events

Keeping people safe

  • Add 276 more Emergency Services positions (fire, police and paramedics) 
  • Expand road safety programs

Staff presentations on the 2025 staff-prepared budget are available at www.toronto.ca/budget. I encourage you learn about the various opportunities to get involved in the budget process, which includes opportunities to speak directly to the Budget Committee and submitting written feedback here.

I will also be hosting a ‘City Budget 2025 Virtual Town Hall’ on Monday, January 20th at 6pm, where we will review the proposed 2025 budget, discuss its investments and impacts on city services, and walk through the City’s budget process together.  To join the virtual meeting, please use this link: gordperks.ca/2025budget

Looking forward to seeing you there,


In This Week's Newsletter

City Wide Updates 

  • CampTO Summer Programs List
  • Winterlicious returns Jan 31 - Feb 13
  • Nominations now open: Toronto Community Champion Award 🏆 

Ward 4 Updates

  • Masaryk-Cowan Presents: Community Youth Nights

2024 Highlights and Holiday Wishes

Friends,

2024 has been a transformative year for our city.

As Chair of the Planning and Housing Committee, I have had the pleasure of supporting the tireless work of community activists and City staff in advancing real solutions to the housing crisis we have been witnessing.

In 2024, to name a few successes, we established the Renovictions Bylaw to deter bad-faith evictions, launched an industry-supported incentive program that facilitates the development of 20,000 new rental homes, expanded permissions for townhouses and small-scale apartment buildings along major streets city-wide, and initiated steps to address excessive indoor temperatures due to the effects of climate change.

I am most proud of our work at rebuilding the City’s capacity as a Public Builder that leads the delivery of affordable housing options. Through establishing a Housing Development Office at the City, we have transformed the City from an entity that is frustrated and unable to move on affordable housing to quite possibly the biggest developer of affordable housing in the country.

In the last 15 months we have gone from zero to 13 affordable construction projects currently under construction, including the 11 Brock site in our ward, and dozens more projects with shovels in the ground next year. We are proving that when we choose to face our most pressing issues head-on, we can respond with quick and effective actions.

This week, as part of Council Mid-term Member Appointments, I was honoured to be asked to continue in my role as Chair of the Planning and Housing Committee for the remainder of this Council term.

As we celebrate the holiday season, I look forward to continuing to work together in 2025 to advance the realization of housing as a human right in Toronto.

Sincerely,


2024 Highlights

Dunn House

Dunn House (90 Dunn Ave), Canada’s first ever social medicine supportive housing initiative, opened in October. The four-storey modular housing building includes 51 new, rent-geared-to-income and supportive homes for people who were experiencing homelessness and who were also frequent users of UHN’s emergency department. The new homes will be furnished studio apartments with a bathroom and kitchen. The building will include amenities such as shared laundry, a commercial kitchen, a dining area, a communal area and programming space. They will also benefit from wrap-around social and health services provided by Fred Victor and UHN aimed at improving their well-being and housing stability.  Dunn House has been supported by all orders of government and non-profit housing partners, with continued engagement with the local community.

11 Brock Ave

Earlier this week, the City broke ground on the construction of 11 Brock Ave, the first of five ‘housing ready’ sites to be developed under the Public Developer Model. The planned four-storey building will provide 42 homes with supports to maintain people’s health, wellbeing, and housing stability. The new homes will be private apartments with a bathroom and a kitchen. The building will also include amenities such as shared laundry, a commercial kitchen and programming spaces for residents. The City has partnered with Parkdale Activity Recreation Centre (PARC) as the community housing provider. PARC operates supportive homes in Toronto for adults experiencing mental health and substance use challenges, many with a history of homelessness. PARC and our office will continue to engage with the local Parkdale community on the development of this site. This work is possible due to intergovernmental partnership. In 2023, the project received $21.6 million through the Federal Rapid Housing Initiative. Beginning in 2025, annual operating funding of at least $1.2 million is required from the Province of Ontario for the support services planned for this building.

Traffic Calming Policy & Vision Zero Road Safety

There has been an update on the Vision Zero Road Safety Initiatives and Traffic Calming Policy. The updated Traffic Calming Policy was adopted by City Council in November 2023, and began applying to Community Council Reports starting January 2024. The warrants for Traffic Calming on a residential street are now based on the posted speed limit instead of the standard 40 km/h. This should help local streets in need of additional calming measures. As part of Vision Zero safety initiatives, the Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) camera is designed to deter speeding motorists and increase safety for vulnerable road users. In Q1 of 2025, Ward 4 will receive two additional cameras as part of the ASE program expansion; the locations are Jameson Avenue South of Laxton Avenue and Jane Street near Page Avenue.

West Parkdale Cycling Connections

In Fall 2024 the City completed installation of the West Parkdale Cycling Connection. This project addresses a previous gap in our cycling network by providing a connection between The Queensway and Brock Avenue. In addition to the installation of the bike lanes the project included one way street conversions, changes to one way street directions, changes to on street parking, new stop signs, intersection improvements and traffic calming speed humps. A new traffic light signal will be installed in 2025 at Roncesvalles Avenue and Galley Avenue. Over the next 6 to 12 months, City staff will continue to monitor traffic counts and collect feedback from the community.

Parkside Drive

Parkside Drive’s current road configuration encourages motorists to travel at high speeds. In November City Council endorsed, in principle, to advance detailed design of the road safety changes identified in the Parkside Drive Study, which includes bike lanes and intersection safety improvements. The road reconfigurations aim to improve safety for all road users and upgrade Parkside Drive to accommodate multi-modal travel options. Council also approved as part of the Parkside Drive Study City staff recommendations for the installation of speed humps on five adjacent streets to Parkside Drive which satisfy the updated Traffic Calming Policy warrants.

High Park Movement Strategy

Improvements as part of the High Park Movement Strategy (HPMS) continue to be advanced in High Park. New pick-up/drop-off spaces at key destinations on Colborne Lodge Drive between the Grenadier Cafe and Bloor Street West were added, and TTC 203 High Park Route operated seasonal service this summer with an expanded route that was run via Keele Station, providing a transfer-free accessible connection between High Park and Line 2. The High Park Movement Strategy includes the implementation of a shuttle service to help visitors get around High Park all year long. The City of Toronto has issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the provision of this shuttle service, which will help visitors get around key locations within High Park. The City has also partnered with Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) to undertake a road ecology study within High Park to better understand existing conditions, potential risk factors to wildlife, and possible mitigation measures.

Sunnyside Beach Shoreline Resiliency Project

The Sunnyside Beach Shoreline Resiliency Project is one of 36 locations where work is being undertaken to rehabilitate and increase resiliency along the shoreline of Lake Ontario. Periods of high lake water levels, coupled with increased frequency and severity of storms have put pressure on the existing erosion control measures in place along Lake Ontario’s shoreline and the City must deliver proactive solutions to address this. This project is carried out through the Federal government’s Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund (DMAF). The mandate of this work, under this funding structure, is to address the impacts of flooding and erosion by repairing, remediating, and enhancing the resilience of Toronto's waterfront shoreline. As part of these mitigation efforts, three seat walls in different locations have been installed as a protective barrier against high lake water effects. The City installed new sand to restore the sand quality at Sunnyside Beach following completion of the Shoreline Resiliency Project.


In This Week's Newsletter

City Wide Updates 

  • Vacant Home Tax 2024 Declaration
  • New Year's Skating Parties
  • City of Toronto Consultation: Growing Space for Trees & Infill Housing
  • Planning for the Holiday Season in Toronto
  • Toronto Parking Authority Rate Change Communication

Ward 4 Updates

  • Developments
    • *New Date* Committee of Adjustment Application, 1375 Queen St W
    • Update on 2453-2469 Bloor Street West: Ontario Land Tribunal Hearing - Request for Directions
    • An Update on 2461-2475 Dundas St W - Zoning By-law Amendment and Rental Housing Demolition & Conversion

Increasing Shelter Infrastructure and Our Public Developer Capacity

Friends,

I am encouraged by the progress announced this week on the City’s Homelessness Services Capital Infrastructure Strategy (HSCIS). The City unveiled the first six shelter sites that are being developed as part of this 10-year strategy and has expanded winter services for people experiencing homelessness.

The City is currently providing emergency accommodations to approximately 12,000 people. These shelter spaces enable our unhoused neighbours to have a roof over their heads while accessing services that help them transition to permanent housing. In 2023, more than 5,900 people experiencing homelessness moved from the shelter system into permanent housing.

Although the City is providing shelter to thousands of people, hundreds of people are unable to be matched to shelter each night. The HSCIS was developed to meet the unmet demand for shelter space by building new shelters across Toronto. Between 2024 and 2033, the City plans to develop up to 20 new purpose-built shelter sites, creating a total of approximately 1,600 shelter spaces.

Each shelter will be smaller by design and serve approximately 80 people, focusing on providing safety, comfort and resources to help residents transition to stable housing. I encourage you to learn more about the City’s work to open new shelter sites on the project webpage.

I am also pleased to share that Executive Committee adopted a staff report this week on strengthening the City’s role as a Public Developer to deliver housing faster.

This report outlines steps to establish a Housing Development Office that will focus exclusively on advancing and accelerating the delivery of housing on City-led and City-supported sites. Through this new Office, the City will either lead projects directly or leverage Toronto Community Housing (TCHC) and CreateTO on a project-by-project basis, based on each organization’s unique expertise and best practices. This item will be considered by City Council next week.

I will continue to use my voice and vote on Council to support improving and increasing our shelter infrastructure and expediting the City’s delivery of housing.

Sincerely,


In This Week's Newsletter

City Wide Updates 

  • Vacant Home Tax 2024 Declaration
  • Support your community: Holiday Wish List 🎁 
  • Skate Lending Library is back this winter  
  • Illuminating holiday experiences at Toronto History Museums ✨

Ward 4 Updates

  • Junction BIA's Window Wonderland
  • Junction Residents' Association: Community Caroling Sing-a-long in the Junction!!
  • Attention Parkdale Village BIA Members: Board Members Wanted
  • Developments
    • *New Date* Committee of Adjustment Application, 1375 Queen St W

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