TORONTO, August 18, 2021 — The Atmospheric Fund (TAF) and Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) have signed a new partnership agreement to accelerate their program of tenant-centered social housing retrofits.
The expanded partnership agreement enables both TAF and TCHC to move from single-project retrofits to multi-building, accelerated projects. As formal partners, TAF and TCHC will move forward on joint objectives and priorities, achieve economies of scale, and support learnings and capacity building within the multi-residential building sector.
The expanded scale will support Toronto’s climate target goals and contribute to TAF’s mission to achieve net-zero communities by 2050.
Buildings are the largest source of carbon emissions in the GTA, mostly from housing. Investments in housing retrofits have the potential to dramatically reduce carbon emissions, while improving resident health and comfort and creating green jobs.
TAF and TCHC have long cooperated on single-project retrofits to advance energy efficiency and renewable energy. Since 2015, TAF and TCHC have worked together to:
- Retrofit more than 1,400 TCHC homes
- Complete more than $10 million in capital work
- Reduce more than 20,000 tonnes of cumulative carbon (over the projects’ life)
- Save more than $500,000 in annual utility bills
- Reduce resident exposure to extreme heat by more than 35 per cent by installing heat pumps and, in some cases, smart thermostats
- Create more than 7,000 hours of dedicated employment opportunities for people facing barriers, half of them TCHC tenants.
Under the new partnership agreement, retrofit work will scale up significantly in TCHC buildings.
By the end of 2021, the partners aim to:
- Initiate deep retrofit design work for an additional 1,500+ TCHC homes, representing more than $33 million in future capital work
- Design retrofits to achieve a minimum 40-per-cent carbon reduction and improve health and comfort conditions
- Generate at least 1,500 hours of employment on TCHC retrofit projects for people facing barriers to employment, with half going to TCHC residents
“We need to more than quadruple the pace and increase the depth of building retrofits to respond to the climate emergency. With this new level of momentum with Toronto Community Housing, we will accelerate climate action, help create jobs for local communities and ensure healthy and comfortable homes for people across Toronto, creating pathways for more building owners to follow.”
– Julia Langer, CEO, The Atmospheric Fund
“Our vision is to provide quality homes in vibrant communities where people are proud to live and work. At TCHC we recognize that this vision requires climate action and we are proud to partner with The Atmospheric Fund to enable TCHC to continue this vital work.”
– Jag Sharma, President and CEO, Toronto Community Housing
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About the Toronto Atmospheric Fund
The Atmospheric Fund (TAF) is a regional climate agency that invests in low-carbon solutions for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area and helps scale them up for broad implementation. We are experienced leaders and collaborate with stakeholders in the private, public and non-profit sectors who have ideas and opportunities for reducing carbon emissions. Supported by endowment funds, we advance the most promising concepts by investing, providing grants, influencing policies and running programs. We’re particularly interested in ideas that offer benefits in addition to carbon reduction such as improving people’s health, creating local jobs, boosting urban resiliency and contributing to a fair society.
About Toronto Community Housing
Toronto Community Housing is Canada’s largest social housing provider, and home to nearly 60,000 households with low and moderate incomes. Toronto Community Housing is committed to identifying best practices and developing standards for energy efficiency across its portfolio, and to educating staff and residents on its green initiatives.
Media contacts:
- TAF: Julie Leach, Communications Manager 416-393-6382 | Jleach@taf.ca
- TCHC: Media line 416-737-1352 | media@torontohousing.ca
