Toronto's Regent Park To Be 'Transformed'

Regent Park is a 29-hectare (72.5 acre) public housing project in downtown Toronto that was built fifty years ago and has not aged particularly well. The project's owner, Toronto Community Housing Corporation, is planning to redevelop the site in an undertaking that will consist of six phases and take a dozen years. All 2,087 rent-geared-to-income units that currently exist on the site will be replaced. 500 affordable ownership units will be added as well as 2,500 market-value housing units. The new plan has been developed in consultation with current residents of the project as well as the neighbouring areas. The proposal would reintegrate Regent Park into the surrounding community by reopening the grid of streets that was closed when the devevelopment was originally built. A massive new central park is also proposed. A significant portion of the funds for the rebuilding will come from selling land to private developers for the market-value housing component. [Editor's note: The plan can be viewed at http://www.regentparkplan.ca]