Toronto’s new social housing waiting list: putting the choice-based rental model into local context

Choice-based rental models are under consideration in Ontario for their ability to provide more clientcentric service while increasing efficiency and cost-effectiveness for housing providers. They are compelling because of their potential for empowerment and provision of housing choice, though it remains unclear how exactly it achieves these outcomes. This paper asks how a choice-based rental model can help achieve improvements to affordable housing policy, reallocate scarce resources, and improve neighborhood planning in Toronto. Implementation issues and successes associated with the model are discussed through a review of literature and a case study of Toronto Community Housing’s ‘My Choice Rental’ pilot program. Recommendations for the model’s use in a growing urban centre like Toronto, Ontario include data collection and preference tracking to inform housing policy updates, using technology to improve the user experience, and conducting and participating in research to determine whether the model is performing as intended.