October City Council Highlights

While much of City Council’s first session back from recess was spent discussing Billy Bishop Airport, there were also updates on the Student Nutrition Program, Vacant Home Tax and Congestion Management.

What’s New in Toronto Centre

Released Section 37 Funds for Vinyl Garbage Receptacle Wraps in the St. Lawrence Neighbourhood;
Approved 660 New Housing Units at 517-523 Richmond Street East and 97-115 Berkeley Street;
Approved 831 New Housing Units and 19 Rental Replacement Units at 566-576 Sherbourne Street and 29-37 Linden Street; and
Endorsed Growing with the City: An Ecosystem of Initiatives for Allan Gardens to support the revitalization of Allan Gardens

Revamping the Vacant Home Tax

The 2023 rollout of the Vacant Home Tax was undoubtedly a disaster. To improve the process for 2024, the following changes were adopted by City Council:

Allowing more flexibility by allowing residents to declare between November 1 and April 30;
Adding an additional Secondary Residence Exemption for medical reasons;
Enhancing communication with the addition of mailout notices and email notifications;
Dedicating a Customer Care Team to support the declaration process; and
Increasing ways to declare with new phone and paper options.

Update on the Congestion Management Plan 2023-2026

At the City, we are constantly monitoring and assessing processes, activities and infrastructure that impact congestion on our streets. Transportation Services has reported back on the Congestion Management Plan with the following recommendations:

Transportation Services, City Planning, and Development Review to assess opportunities in the development review process to encourage development proposals to minimize the need for lane occupation during construction;
Transportation Services to create a process to reduce congestion on TTC routes impacted by capital projects with the coordination and implementation of temporary parking adjustments;
Extension of the Traffic Agent/special constable program for traffic management; and
Increased penalty for stopping on a signed highway during rush hour.

As part of the next staff report on congestion management, we will also have an update on methods for minimizing bike lane obstruction by City-owned and contracted vehicles and unauthorized objects. You can read the full Congestion Management Plan here.

Expanding the Student Nutrition Program

As many families across the city are impacted by the cost-of-living crisis, food insecurity is a major concern. In Toronto, children and youth make up nearly one-third of food bank clients. Toronto’s Student Nutrition Program currently serves over 227,000 meals each day to students across the city, but because of lack of funding thousands of students do not have access to the program. Earlier this year, the Federal government announced the National School Food Program, which will allow us to significantly scale up operations here in Toronto and eventually realize a universal student nutrition program. The City Manager and the Medical Officer of Health will report back in spring of next year with a strategy for the delivery of a universal morning meal program by the 2026/2027 school year and a universal lunch program no later than 2030.

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