Across Toronto and the wider region, up to 176,000 new units could be added to rental sites to meet crushing demand. These 950 infill sites are already purchased and zoned — there is simply room and an opportunity to add more.

A recent rental market study projects a shortage of up to 200,000 rental units in the Toronto and the Greater Hamilton Area (GTHA) within a decade, a trend that has been pushing vacancies low and prices high. But with a global pandemic blunting travel, immigration, employment and student accommodation, Toronto has suddenly tipped in the opposite direction: landlords courting tenants.

The Urbanization report — prepared for the Federation of Rental-Housing Providers of Ontario (FRPO) — considers COVID-19 and still anticipates “a return to base projections” by 2022. According to its calculations, the long-term demand remains — and hidden in plain sight could be the potential to meet it.

Roughly 60,000 Rental Units Possible Near Rapid Transit

The potential for infill development is important for two reasons, says Tony Irwin, president of FRPO.

“A lot of the sites are concentrated outside of the downtown core in relatively affordable markets,” he says. “The other thing that’s important is that over 35 per cent of the potential units that we identify through this report are within 800 meters of a current or future transit station.”