Eleven surplus city properties can be developed to provide more than 10,000 residential units — one-third of them affordable housing — so that more low-income earners can live and work in the city, according to a staff report going to city council at the end of January.

The proposed $4.2-billion construction project would also create thousands of jobs, according to Sean Gadon, director of Toronto’s affordable housing office.

“It represents 13,400 person-years of employment. The 11 sites spread throughout the city cover 40 acres of land, which is the equivalent of half of Kensington Market, or three Distillery Districts,” said Gadon.

In all, 3,629 of the 10,187 new units would be rented at rates ranging on average from $549 to $1,372 per month, making it possible for cashiers and retail workers, nannies and factory workers to live in the city instead of commuting from afar.

The average rents in the affordable housing units should not exceed 80 per cent of annual Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation average market rents, according to the report.

Another third of the units would be leased at market rents and a third would likely be sold as condominiums, creating mixed-income buildings. The market-rent units and units sold as condominiums would assist in paying for the construction of the affordable homes.

It is also being recommended that the city waive its development charges, planning application fees, building permit fees and property taxes for the affordable units, totalling $280 million in exemptions over 99 years.

“The creativity of this is that there is no draw on the city’s tax revenues to achieve this program,” said Gadon. “All of the inputs are coming from existing land, which is publicly owned, and from the forgiveness of fees and charges that otherwise wouldn’t be collected because these developments wouldn’t have occurred.”

City council approved repurposing the 11 unused city properties as housing developments in December. The initiative, called “Housing Now,” is one part of Mayor John Tory’s promise to provide 40,000 more affordable housing units over the next 12 years.

Councillor Joe Cressy (Ward 10 Spadina-Fort York) said his initial reaction to the report is generally favourable.

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