Regent Park, Toronto: A Transformed, Transforming Community

It was “a culture shock” for Murwan Khogali when his family moved from Mississauga to Toronto’s Regent Park 21 years ago. “It was a crime-driven community,” remembers Khogali, who was 12. Housing was deteriorating and there was prostitution, violence and drug abuse due to poverty.

Built between the Don River and Cabbagetown in the 1940s, the public housing project was geographically and socially isolated and had no streets within it.

Khogali “learned the culture very quickly.” Because he chose not to live in fear, he wanted to help. In his late teens, he started a tutoring club.

The development itself was also changing. In 2006, Toronto Community Housing Corp. (TCHC) for the Daniel’s Corp. to be its development partner for the first three phases of one of the largest urban revitalizations.

The massive project transformed the neighborhood into a mix of residential and commercial space. TCHC subsidized rental buildings integrated with apartments, regular rental buildings and senior housing.

The changes brought a six-acre park; a community center; athletic fields; the arts and cultural center, called “Daniels Spectrum”; and supermarkets, restaurants and cafes.

Toronto’s chief planner, Gregg Lintern, says the overall vision has been followed. “The idea was to connect the neighborhood and make it feel and resemble the rest of the city. That was achieved by treating it no differently from others, providing parks, places to shop and access to services, and connecting it physically and experientially so that people who have problems with housing would not have additional challenges in their day-to-day to live.

Early in the revitalization, Khogali met Daniels president Mitchell Cohen, who has supported the former’s initiatives. Khogali says, “It’s almost been a parent-child relationship. He and Daniels have supported us in so many ways.”

The revitalization has brought opportunities and hope. Khogali, who still lives there, studied environmental physics at the University of Toronto, but his passion was working with his community. He started ‘Healing as One’, a registered charity in the area.

Based in Daniels Spectrum, the organization leads initiatives to help vulnerable residents with food insecurity and mentor at-risk youth through programs, financial literacy education, and mental health workshops, and by providing a safe space to gather.

“We became a workforce development agency, and last year’s payroll was $400,000 for youth,” says Khogali. “We help with interviews and fake interview support.”

Three years ago, Khogali launched a social enterprise, ‘Infinigard Security and Protection Services’. This provides free training to at-risk Regent Park youth, women and new immigrants, and helps them find jobs in building and event security and apartment concierge services.

Now the development company has now launched its latest condominium, “Daniels on Parliament”, and will later construct the final Phase 3 Toronto Community Housing building on the site of the sales center. (Tridel will be TCH’s partner for phases 4 and 5.)

In phases 1 to 3, 3,063 market apartments have been completed and 640 are under construction; 346 market rental homes and 332 senior rental homes completed; 1,261 replacement TCHC rental units have been completed and 189 are under construction; 403 new TCHC affordable rental homes have been completed and 24 are under construction.

Khogali says that while problems such as poverty and drug abuse persist, the neighborhood is much safer. “The community is thriving with positivity,” he adds.

Heela Omarkhail, Daniels’ vice president of social impact, grew up in a Toronto Community Housing project in North York herself. “It has been such a privilege to work in this neighborhood with these incredible stakeholders, partners and residents. What a joy it has been in my career!”

Omarkhail says building alone would not have achieved city-building goals, so Daniels invested in community development, arts and culture, and other initiatives. One is the CRAFT preapprenticeship program, which started in 2016. Since then, 55 TCHC youth have participated and nine are in the current cohort. After graduation, young people are apprenticed at Carpenters’ Local 27.

Omarkhail says such social integration has been key to the revitalization’s success. “We involved community members in the design of the six-acre park, supported the creation of a park friends group, and provided funds for the food and farmer’s market. (I succeeded until the community could take over.) And in the summer, Wednesday evenings are a magical time to be in the park for the Regent Park Film Festival’s free movies.

“The first year, 140 people watched the films. Now there are more than 1,000.”

Despite the successes, providing additional affordable housing is a problem as revitalization continues, says Lintern. “The goal is to increase the net number of affordable units, and that is a challenge. We have the zoning plan, but we don’t have the funding. That is always the challenge, whether it concerns underground pipes, new parks, facilities or homes. We need participation from all levels of government. We have a really exciting, more responsive community than before, but we need to get it across the finish line and get more affordable housing.

Latest development

Name: Daniels on the South Tower of Parliament

Place: 365 Parliament Street

Description: 25 floors with 313 suites, from 30 square meters to 640 square meters.

Services: Co-working space, kids’ club, maker space, fitness center, party room, movie lounge, Wi-Fi lounge, outdoor terrace

Price: From the high $400,000

Status: Under construction

Developer: The Daniels Corporation

Architect: Super cool

Interior designer: U31 design

Landscape architect: NAK

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