Willowdale housing project for homeless seniors underway after years of community pushback, delays

After years of delays, rising costs and local backlash, a supportive housing development intended to fast-track seniors out of homelessness is underway in Toronto's Willowdale neighbourhood.

A planned three-storey modular building on Cummer Avenue is now scheduled to open by early next year, the city says, four years after the city's Planning and Housing Committee unanimously approved a plan to quickly build modular housing on the city-owned property.

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow spoke with reporters at an announcement in Willowdale Thursday, saying the project will get 59 seniors off the streets, helping them live independently and age in place.

"It will be a home for a whole lot of seniors that have had mental health issues and have addiction issues," she said. "It's an important day."

The building will offer 59 supportive housing units, all studio apartments, with rent geared to income, Chow said. Non-profit WoodGreen Community Services will manage the building and provide wraparound supports for tenants.

"I hear the hammering in the background. This is a sound of joy, because we've waited for so long," Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow told reporters at the development.

But the lead-up to Thursday's announcement wasn't filled with much joy.

The project immediately met with resistance when it was announced in 2021, as part of a modular housing program launched the year before in response to the city's housing shortage and the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Modular housing is made up of factory-built, modular sections that allow it to be constructed and, ideally, opened very quickly. But the province refused a city request to speed up the development's planning approval timeline to get the units in place before the winter of 2021-2022.

A community group also opposed the development from the beginning, ultimately filing an unsuccessful appeal with the Ontario Land Tribunal. 

The group had argued the modular homes would fundamentally change the character of the neighbourhood, and make it harder for residents or visitors of Willowdale Manor to find parking and enjoy local green space. They also worried about security at the site and said the city hadn't properly consulted locals.

Delays followed, which Chow says cost the city millions, as the pre-fabricated components of the building had to be stored for years, raising the total price tag to $36.2 million.

Lawyer Eric Gillespie, who represented the community group in the appeal, says his clients were never opposed to building supportive housing in the area. They just wanted to ensure it was for seniors, after the city initially said the project was for people exiting homelessness, and did not designate it for seniors specifically.

The group thought that housing for seniors would be a better fit for the location, Gillespie said, with a seniors housing complex already next door and a long-term care facility nearby.