Toronto Plans 'Affordable' Athlete Village for Pan-Am Games

In the run-up to the 2015 Pan-Am Games, Toronto officials are toying around with plans for an athletes' village, predicted to be three times the size of the one Vancouver found itself lumbered with after the 2010 Winter Olympics. Planning the athletes' village is complex and risky, as no task of this magnitude has been carried out in Canada before. Usually condo developers raise most of the necessary start-up capital by selling units pre-construction. With the units first being leased out to more than 8000 athletes however, it is not clear whether pre-construction financing is a possibility. Moreover Toronto's housing market is famously over-heated, and developers cannot be certain that demand will actually exist for an additional 2100 waterfront condo units once the games are over.

Then there is the issue of affordability. The 'affordable' component of Vancouver's Athletes' Village became a thorn in the project's side. With developers having to front most of the cost of construction for the village, it becomes very difficult to offer any sort of 'affordable' units - typically financed by pre-construction sales. 'Affordable' units in Vancouver's Athletes' Village have been estimated to cost the local taxpayer $750,000 each - a price tag that Torontonians are likely to balk at.

How then can Toronto make its Athletes' Village work? First, to develop a project of this magnitude within the next five years, the City needs the full support of both the provincial and federal governments. The three levels of government need to work together to swiftly plan and finance the project, rather than let bureaucratic differences, procedures, and paperwork get in the way. Creating a board with significant decision-making power, with representatives from both the public and private sector would perhaps streamline the process. Second, the project needs a clear vision that is easily transmitted to the private sector. How should private developers be involved in the process?

Most importantly however, everyone involved (including taxpayers) needs to acknowledge that building a project of this magnitude may not necessarily be profitable. While spectacles like the Olympics and Pam-Am games offer to give the host city international recognition for a short period of time, their cost typically far exceeds any benefit from increased tourism. What the games can achieve however if the Athletes' Village is properly funded, is to give the city an additional 420 affordable housing units - a small drop in the bucket of the current 12 year waiting list for social housing in Toronto.

Plans for the Athletes' Village are still shaky at best, and in the very early stages of development. What is clear however is that Toronto needs to take control of the project and clearly define how each stakeholder will be involved to ensure that it is completed on time, and relatively on budget. Strong leadership and ownership over the project may not be able to overcome the inherently expensive nature of infrastructure for international-scale spectacles, but it can ensure that the housing is built on time, and on budget, and that Toronto ends up adding to its stock of affordable housing.

Updates to follow.