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Subsidized Housing

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Rent-Geared-to-Income

​​Rent-geared-to-income is sometimes referred to as subsidized rent or housing.

  • Most Toronto Seniors Housing tenants pay rent-geared-to-income. Rent-geared-to-income is calculated at about 30% of your net income.
  • There is a waiting list for this type of housing. The waiting list is managed by the City of Toronto.

How to apply

Apply for rent-geared-to-income subsidized housing via the City of Toronto’s My Access To Housing TO portal. Instructions are here.

Who can apply

Anyone may apply for rent-geared-to-income (RGI) housing as long as they meet the following criteria:

  • At least one member of the household is 16 years or older
  • At least one member of the household is able to live independently, with or without support services
  • Household income does not exceed the allowable limits as per the Housing Income Limits (HILs)
  • Total household assets are within Asset Limit requirements
  • Each member of the household can prove status in Canada as one of the following:
    • a Canadian citizen
    • a permanent resident of Canada
    • an applicant for Canadian permanent resident status
    • a refugee claimant or Convention refugee
  • Applicants are required to submit a Notice of Assessment for the current taxation year prior to accepting an offer of housing (see more under How to Apply)

All Toronto Seniors Housing buildings have a seniors mandate. This means a household must have at least one person who is 59 years of age or older to be eligible to apply.

The City of Toronto will check the household members’ names to ensure they do not owe money to housing providers or have a conviction related to RGI housing.

If you own a residential property, you must disclose this when you apply. You must sell the property, or your share in it, within six months of moving into subsidized housing. If you fail to do so, you may not receive an offer of housing, or lose your subsidy.

If you do not have income, should you receive a housing offer, you would be required to seek income such as Ontario Works.

Priority Access

There are a few groups of applicants who are prioritized for housing. These groups, ranked in order of priority, are:

  1. Survivors of family/domestic abuse and human trafficking
  2. Terminally ill applicants who have less than two years to live
  3. Tenants already living in subsidized units that need to move to a smaller unit due to changes in their household (according to local occupancy standards)

There are also local priority access rules for the following:

  • applicants experiencing homelessness
  • youth who are 16 or 17 years old at the time of applying for Rent-Geared-to-Income housing and who are heads of household
  • tenants relocating to RGI housing from supportive housing
  • applicants who identify as Indigenous to Canada