Date issued: January 18, 2021
Effective date: January 1, 2021
The City Guideline is applicable to Housing Services Act, Part VII Housing Projects, Market and Rent-Geared-to-Income, Section 78 Housing Providers (formerly 110).
City Guidelines are issued to communicate changes to the City of Toronto’s mandatory policies and procedures that housing providers must follow.
City Guidelines are issued when a Local Rule is established by the City of Toronto, the Rent-Geared-to-Income (RGI) Administration Manual is updated, or other relevant legislative changes or operational requirements must be communicated to housing providers. City Guidelines which impact RGI are incorporated into the RGI Administration Manual.
The City of Toronto is the Service Manager, as defined by the Housing Services Act, 2011 (HSA). The HSA and its regulations set out the rules that housing providers must follow in administering the RGI program along with providing authority for Service Managers to establish Local Rules for certain circumstances.
The City of Toronto has established the RGI Administration Manual as the authoritative document to be used by housing providers for guidance on how to administer the RGI program. The RGI Administration Manual incorporates the City’s interpretation of how the HSA and regulations and Local Rules are to be administered.
Please see www.toronto.ca/socialhousing for more information.
The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing provides indices for costs and revenues used to calculate subsidies under the Housing Services Act, 2011 (HSA), on an annual basis.
The Helping Tenants and Small Businesses Act, 2020, revises the 2021 rent increase guideline to make it zero percent. This City Guideline updates the Toronto Market Rent Indices (Table 3) to reflect this change and is a replacement of City Guideline 2020-1.
Cost factors are inflationary factors used to calculate:
Housing providers must use the following cost factors when calculating their subsidies for fiscal years beginning in 2021.
| Item | Index Description | 2021 Index |
|---|---|---|
| Administration and maintenance | Ontario CPI – All items | -0.43% |
| Insurance | Ontario CPI – Homeowner’s home and mortgage insurance sub-index | 5.92% |
| Bad debt | Market Rent Index | See MRI Table 3 below |
| Electricity | Ontario CPI – Electricity sub-index | -13.07% |
| Water | Ontario CPI – Water sub-index | 3.01% |
| Natural gas | Ontario CPI – Natural gas sub-index | -5.57% |
| Oil and other fuel | Ontario CPI – Oil and other fuel sub-index | -26.83% |
| Capital reserves | Ontario CPI – All items | -0.43% |
| Item | Index Description | 2021 Index |
|---|---|---|
| Indexed market rent | Market Rent index | See MRI Table 3 below |
| Vacancy loss | Market Rent Index | See MRI Table 3 below |
| Non-rental revenue | Factor of 1 | Factor of 1 |
| Toronto District | Rent District Codes | Apartment Average Rent | (Row)Townhouse Average Rent |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 Market Rent Index | 2021 Market Rent Index | ||
| Toronto Zone 1 – Former City of Toronto (Central) | M1A1 | 0 % | 0 % |
| Toronto Zone 2 – Former City of Toronto (East) | M1A2 | -4.3 % | 0 % |
| Toronto Zone 3 – Former City of Toronto (North) | M1A3 | 0 % | 0 % |
| Toronto Zone 4 – Former City of Toronto (West) | M1A4 | 0 % | 0 % |
| Toronto Zone 5 – Etobicoke (South) | M1C1 | 0 % | 0 % |
| Toronto Zone 6 – Etobicoke (Central) | M1C2 | 0 % | -0.5 % |
| Toronto Zone 7 – Etobicoke (North) | M1C3 | 0 % | 0 % |
| Toronto Zone 8 – York | M1F | 0 % | 0 % |
| Toronto Zone 9 – East York | M1B | 0 % | 0 % |
| Toronto Zone 10 – Scarborough (Central) | M1E1 | 0 % | 0 % |
| Toronto Zone 11 – Scarborough (North) | M1E2 | 0 % | 0 % |
| Toronto Zone 12 – Scarborough (East) | M1E3 | 0 % | 0 % |
| Toronto Zone 13 – North York (Southeast) | M1D1 | 0 % | 0 % |
| Toronto Zone 14 – North York (Northeast) | M1D2 | 0 % | -2.3 % |
| Toronto Zone 15 – North York (Southwest) | M1D3 | 0 % | 0 % |
| Toronto Zone 16 – North York (North Central) | M1D5 | 0 % | 0 % |
| Toronto Zone 17 – North York (Northwest) | M1D4 | 0 % | 0 % |
All Market and Rent-Geared-to-Income, Section 78 Housing Providers must use the indices indicated in Tables 1, 2 and 3 to calculate the indicated cost items and revenues, as well as their operating and RGI subsidies for their fiscal year beginning in 2021.
If you have any questions, please contact your Housing Consultant