Rebuild plan unveiled 3 years after ceiling collapse at Toronto public housing complex

Toronto Community Housing unveiled a plan on Thursday for the rebuild of a public housing complex after its ceiling collapsed over five years ago, but it will still be years before the development is built, according to one city councillor.

The Swansea Mews development plan includes three towers, public greenspace and more than 100 parking spaces. Between the three buildings, about 650 residences will be included, some of which will be affordable housing. 

In May 2022, tenants of the Swansea Mews were forced to leave their homes after a ceiling collapsed and injured a woman. The building, located near The Queensway and Windermere Avenue, has been vacant since engineers deemed all the buildings unsafe for people to live there. More than 400 residents were displaced.

Gord Perks, councillor for the area, said Toronto Community Housing has been “racing at full speed” to complete its plans. 

The planning and housing committee endorsed the plan in April. The next step is to get the development approved by city council, Perks said. He said that will likely happen in February and said he is confident the plan will get the green light. 

“The final piece is to nail down that [federal] funding,” Perks said. “We're having conversations with every connection we have to the federal government.”

“I'm optimistic, but it's not completely locked in yet,” Perks said.

He said it would still be at least a couple of years before the build is completed “even if everything goes right.”

Geeta Dixon is one of the residents who had to move. Now she is the tenant leader for the revitalization project and helps lead public consultations to plan the development.  

“Losing your home, it's traumatic,” she told CBC Toronto on Thursday, adding she loved walking around the neighbourhood at Swansea Mews. 

Dixon said, when she had to leave her home, the communication between the city and the residents was poor. She said, now, she is included in the process and it’s been nice to be in the loop on future plans.

“So engagement is there, we're getting the information,” she said. “It's very important to have the tenant forces hurting.”

Everybody who lived in the property has a right to return at similar rents and similar unit sizes to what they had before the city condemned the building, Perks has said. But the exact mix of rent-geared-to-income units versus those at market rates depends on federal funding.

Toronto Community Housing will host two more public consultations to hear from the community before the new year.