Toronto Community Housing Corp Prepares to List 68 Houses For Sale

Following the sale in 2011 of five vacant houses in the east end, (listed by yours truly), Toronto Community Housing Corporation listed five more on Crawford St in the west end in 2012. Those ‘baby steps’ have now been followed by a big step.

TCHC recently announced that they were preparing to sell 68 vacant houses from their portfolio of 650+ stand-alone houses. They posted an RFP (Request for Proposal) on their web site, asking for qualified Realtors to prepare bids. The bidding window closed on October 2012, so one would expect that those houses will be coming on the market in the not-too-distant future. Money from the sales will be spent on repairs to occupied properties, and will go a long way towards improving conditions. (TCHC faces an estimated $751,000,000 capital repair backlog.) This is great news for residents.

This is also great news for the Toronto real estate market. Although 68 houses may not sound like much in a market with about 20,000 active listings, many of the houses are in the east end (Leslieville/Riverside especially, with a few others in Riverdale, East York and Scarborough), so it could make at least a bit of difference here. As I wrote recently, house buyers are struggling with a shortage of ‘for sales’, so even a small surge in the number of available listings could help take some pressure off buyers.

Also, many of these houses, being vacant and in rough shape, represent a bit of a blot on the local landscape. Presumably, the new owners will put some time and money into improving the houses, which will benefit the block – perhaps the whole street – on which it is located. This is great news for homeowners around those properties.

Stay tuned for more info. I’ll post/re-post news as it becomes available. In the meantime, here’s the list* of houses that have been approved for sale:

109 McClure Crescent
56 Blackwater Crescent
55 Winstaley Crescent
87 Winstaley Crescent
5 Lowry Square
68 Snowball Crescent
52 Horseley Hill Drive
117 Merkley Square

29 Pintail Crescent
22 Murdock Avenue
703 Sammon Avenue
50 Aldergrove Avenue
281 Willow Avenue

350 Riverdale Avenue
90 Chatham Avenue
15 Milverton Boulevard
43 Poucher Street
1 Sawden Avenue

6 Ellerbeck Street
8 Ellerbeck St
10 Ellerbeck St
1544 Dundas Street East
1834 Dundas Street East

1318 Gerrard Street East
176 Eastwood Road
114 Ivy Avenue
56 Hastings Avenue
69 Laing Street

115 Hiltz Avenue
10 Kent Road
12 Rhodes Avenue
12 Bellhaven Road
32 Mallon Avenue

65 Dagmar Avenue
81 Degrassi Street
93 Empire Avenue
22 Wardell Street
257 Booth Avenue

101 Morse Street
161 Carlaw Avenue
118 Heward Avenue
14 Marjory Avenue
115 Jones Avenue

119 Jones Avenue
193 Jones Avenue
319 Jones Avenue
12 Rushbrooke Avenue
13 Trefann Street

311 Arlington Avenue
71 Nairn Avenue
174 Yarmouth Road
96 Marchmount Road
120 Ellsworth Avenue

19 Carling Avenue
598 St. Clarens Avenue
1022 St. Clarens Avenue
12 Mitchell Avenue
29 Noble Street

56 Lansdowne Avenue
161 Indian Grove
6 Hugo Avenue
630 Runnymede Road
406 Davisville Avenue

185 Logan Avenue
4 Wineva Avenue
5 Hubbard Boulevard
6 Wineva Avenue
7 Hubbard Boulevard

*Source: TCHC RFP 16/11