Daniels' President Honoured for Contributions to Affordable Housing in Toronto

Mitchell Cohen, president of real estate development firm Daniels, was honoured at a dinner last week for his firm's contribution to affordable housing. Daniels has partnered with Habitat for Humanity over the past eight years to provide affordable homeownership opportunities to Torontonians across the city. In 2006 Daniels donated land for the construction of 10 homes in Etobicoke, the single largest gift of land by a private company to a Habitat affiliate in Canada. Also in Etobicoke, Daniels partnered with Habitat on the group’s first-ever high-rise condominium project. In Scarborough, the company has worked with the Sisters of St. Joseph to build 60 affordable homes.

Despite the good work both Daniels and Habitat for Humanity have achieved over the past eight years, Cohen stressed the ongoing need for affordable housing in Toronto:

“In a time of prosperity in which we all live … it should be so easy, should be straightforward, should be natural for all of us to have a roof over our heads, but it’s not – not even close,” he said. “Well, we can and we must change that. There needs to be a “significant shift in how we think about housing, a shift that will enshrine affordable housing as a fundamental right of all Canadians.”

The dinner raised $620,000 for charity, including Cohen's organization of choice, Habitat for Humanity.