Pedestrians pass through a parking lot in Toronto’s Danforth area on Sept. 27. Toronto council voted in March to look into converting some of its parking lots into housing, many of which occupy highly desirable real estate.Sammy Kogan /The Globe and Mail
Toronto’s Danforth Avenue is the sort of place where lots of people want to live – and the sort of place where city planners want them to live. The area east of the downtown has plenty of shops and restaurants within walking distance. There are good schools, and a subway line runs under it. It’s close to major parks.
For an urban area, it also has plenty of public parking lots – 11 within a 1.5-kilometre stretch – though that may soon change. They’re among scores of city-owned lots across Toronto being studied as possible sites for housing, some of it affordable. The idea is part of a nationwide push to look at public land – everything from commercial buildings to parking lots and schoolyards – as part of the solution to the housing crisis. But it’s one that threatens to incense drivers and merchants.
City council voted in March to look into converting some of its parking lots, without knowing specific locations. The Globe and Mail obtained a list through a freedom-of-information request of the 130 lots under consideration, many of which occupy highly desirable real estate. In total, nearly two-thirds of the lots operated by the Toronto Parking Authority (TPA) are being studied. City staff are aiming to produce a report by the end of the year on which are suitable for conversion and how quickly.
At the core of the analysis is the question of what’s more important: parking or affordable housing.
“It’s not just, ‘We’re going to get rid of all the parking,’” said Vic Gupta, the chief executive officer of CreateTO, the city agency that manages Toronto’s real estate holdings, in an interview. “We’re trying to figure out ways to best utilize [the land] and serve all of the various needs of the city.”
The lots comprise more than 10,000 parking spots in 20 of the city’s 25 wards. Although many are clustered downtown and in older parts of the city, with more on the west side than on the east, there are also lots scattered throughout the rest of Toronto.
Many are in neighbourhoods that score high for livability, full of amenities such as restaurants, hospitals, parks and grocery stores. About half are within a short walk of current or planned subway lines.
Mr. Gupta noted that not all of the 130 lots may be suitable for conversion. Some may be needed as parking, he said, while others could become parks or shelters or dedicated to other civic uses.
The city already has a few parking-lot conversions under way, including a small number being turned into housing. Another will become a park. But this is the first time the city is looking at converting such a large and varied amount of property.
A similar debate about the best use of public land has been playing out across the country.
The federal government has earmarked surplus military and other federal lands for development. The Globe published an analysis earlier this summer that found 613 pieces of what has been described as “lazy land” across Canada – enough real estate to house nearly 750,000 people.
Toronto’s mayor wants the province to make it cheaper to use surplus school land for housing. In London, Ont., the mayor directed staff to identify downtown parking lots that could be converted. Calgary is looking to build housing on a parking lot serving a light rail station.
Not all attempts to convert parking lots have been successful. Victoria city council narrowly defeated a push by the mayor to provide a property tax break for religious and cultural centres so they could allow homeless people to shelter on their lots.
In Toronto, there are approximately 38,000 spaces in the TPA’s off-street lots, double the number 25 years ago. However, budget documents show that the city’s off-street parking is a money-loser, when indirect expenses such as capital depreciation are included, and is expected to end the year $6.5-million in the red.
It is only because of money earned through on-street parking – where the cost of maintaining spaces is covered by the city’s transportation department – that the TPA hopes to turn a $38-million profit in revenue. The agency will pay $32-million of that to the city. The CreateTO analysis will consider the profitability of individual lots.
Jeffrey Dea, vice-president of growth and innovation at the TPA, noted that parking lots are no longer just places to leave automobiles. Many also have bike-share stations and vehicle-charging facilities.
Another wrinkle is that some lots allow overnight permit parking for nearby residents. And proposals to turn over parking for other uses, whether that’s development, bike lanes or curbside patios, typically stir heated debate among politicians, business groups and drivers.
In Toronto, the head of one of the business associations serving the Danforth area acknowledged the need for housing but predicted “consternation” from local merchants if parking lots are developed.
Located right next to Toronto’s Danforth neighbourhood, this parking lot is among many city-owned public land sites being studied for potential housing construction.Sammy Kogan /The Globe and Mail
“If you need more housing, there are many, many approaches to housing without taking over all the parking lots,” said Albert Stortchak, chair of the Broadview Danforth BIA. He said the lots should be kept and made into multilevel parking.
Toronto Councillor Chris Moise argues for a nuanced approach. He noted in an interview that while the residents of his downtown ward tend to walk, cycle and take transit, the area’s population triples daily as people come for work or entertainment.
“Those people who decide to drive in, they may need parking,” he said, floating the idea of housing with parking in the basement or the first few floors. “We don’t want to put any barriers up for people not to come into the city.”
Building parking into new residential or mixed-use buildings can cost between $80,000 and $120,000 per stall, according to the Residential Construction Council of Ontario, which represents builders.
Mark Richardson, founder of the advocacy group HousingNowTO, warns that adding parking when building housing makes the economics more difficult.
“If I’m taking a surface parking lot and I now need to make it an underground parking space, I’m creating something that costs in downtown Toronto $120,000 per parking space,” he said.
“The choice between creating a parking space or creating affordable housing units – every time the choice should be to create the affordable housing.”
With data analysis by Mahima Singh
Editor’s note: The Toronto Parking Authority is expected to have net income of $38-million this year, and will pay $32-million to the city. A previous version of this article misstated its profit.