Condo crash's silver lining: these Toronto developers see profit in building for seniors

While developer Daniels Corporation has been prioritizing high accessibility standards in 15 per cent of its condos and apartments for years, the townhomes will be its first lowrise homes to incorporate those design principles.

“We feel like lowrise construction is where a lot of the industry is going to be going over the next number of years as the condo market continues to be slow,” said Daniels president Jake Cohen.

Incorporating accessibility features — particularly in Brampton, where Cohen said multiple generations of a family often live under one roof — could give the builder an edge. Daniels also aims to build several highrises that are “fully visitable” for those with accessibility needs.

“It would set us apart when people are looking for rental,” Cohen said.

Amid the condo market downturn, some developers in the GTA are setting their sights on accessible rental housing as a way to get projects off the ground and to stay competitive.

Languishing condo sales have forced builders to cancel projects and rethink the predominant small, investor-oriented condo model. Government programs and growing competition in the rental market are incentivizing developers to find ways to stand out and build apartments that people will want to live in for a long time — with some seeing Canada’s rapidly aging population and the lack of senior housing options as an opportunity.

The result could be an influx of long-awaited supply that meets the needs of Toronto’s seniors, a group that, broadly, has chosen not to downsize in recent years due to a lack of options.

Dev Mehta, principal of architectural firm BDP Quadrangle, said this moment in the market requires a “critical mindset change” for builders to make their projects viable.

The need for this type of housing is “quite urgent,” he said, adding that, with hundreds of highrise developments stalled, builders have been reaching out to the firm for help re-evaluating their plans.

“By the time many of these communities are built, the demand will be that much more acute.”

Can baby boomers love a tower?

Mehta’s firm held workshops inviting feedback from adults in their late 60s to early 80s, and found that baby boomers are prioritizing independence, mobility and proximity to family and care, he said.

“They want choice, they want to maintain independence, they want their social connection, and they want support available,” he said. “They also want access to all the great urban amenities, like great restaurants, cafes, their places of worship, their community network. 

“The, we’ll call it, ‘conventional seniors housing assisted living model’ doesn’t work for them,” Mehta said.

One project BDP is working on is the “Orchard District” plan in Cooksville, Mississauga. Gala Developments paused what was going to be a condo tower in the three-building project and asked BDP to examine whether a “mixed-demographic care community” might work there.

BDP began fleshing out ideas for a tower where the podium would have assisted living, dining options, wellness spaces, outdoor areas and amenities. The higher floors would have independent or multi-generational living. 

Universal Design — principles meant to serve people with different needs and abilities — would be at the “forefront” of the project, along with more family-sized units, larger bedrooms, larger kitchens and “actual dining rooms,” Mehta said.

Vito Valela, Gala’s vice-president of real estate development, said the builder has two other development sites where it’s considering adding seniors housing. 

Regarding the Cooksville project, he said the community had a mature population, and a report he commissioned proved the site near Trillium Hospital had “very high prospects” for a seniors development.

More broadly, Valela expects demand for this kind of housing to increase.

“Because of, let’s call it the ‘grey glacier,’ it’s such a large market,” he said. “As of 2026, one in five Canadians are over the age of 65, and over the next 20 years, that grey glacier is going to grow.”

Government cash boosts viability

Along the Kay Gardner Beltline Trail at 275 Merton St. in Midtown, builders plan to erect a 40-storey purpose-built rental apartment with units that go above and beyond in terms of accessibility.

The plan is for the 494-unit building to fulfil “aggressive” accessibility standards, said Alex Mather, vice-president at Collecdev-Markee, which has partnered with city real estate agency CreateTO on the project.

While not designed with seniors in mind, specifically, the building, which is also set to have 30 per cent of units be affordable, is meant to be “usable and helpful and accessible to the widest array of people possible.” That means that the project will be suitable for someone who wants to age in place, Mather said.

The project will benefit from two federal programs administered through the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC): Mortgage Loan Insurance (MLI) Select and the Apartment Construction Loan Program (ACLP).

“Their purpose is to support the delivery of purpose-built rental housing of both market and affordable mixes, but they also incentivize pursuing more aggressive accessibility targets and more accessible environmental sustainability targets as well,” Mather said.

The project will also benefit from the development charge reduction program between the federal, provincial and Toronto governments. 

“That type of combination and that type of creativity is really what’s required to be able to deliver a financially viable project in this market,” Mather said, adding Collecdev-Markee is using or hoping to use the CMHC programs in all of its projects in the pipeline.

Striving for the gold standard

Given Collecdev-Markee was already striving to meet these standards, on top of Toronto and Ontario Building Code accessibility requirements, the builder decided to be “a little more ambitious” and is planning to get “certified gold” by disability advocacy organization Rick Hansen Foundation.

“That really sent us down a path of wanting to figure out how we could be leaders in the space,” Mather said.

The Merton Street project includes a combination of in-suite and common-area accessibility measures, Mather said, meant to create a seamless journey “from door to door.”

“So, from the moment a resident or a visitor arrives in the building, whether it’s through the main entrance or the parking garage or the loading area, their path through the building is clear, uninterrupted, free of barriers, and easy to navigate all the way to the threshold of a residential unit,” he said.

That means there will be wide hallways and turning circles that can accommodate mobility devices, furniture and fixtures that preserve the passageway, and “natural rest nodes” along longer navigation routes. There will also be “intuitive way-finding,” with physical signage and visual cues like colour-contrasting finishes.

Other features include seating and standing options at a range of heights, accessible gym equipment, user-controlled task lighting, and universal washrooms in common areas, he said.

As for the suites, all will have some accessibility features, and 100 of the 494 will be completely barrier-free, Mather said.

“It’s one of those sort of virtuous circles where doing the right thing actually opens up some other doors to you, both in terms of the universe of potential tenants who can call your buildings home and the breadth of people who can visit your buildings, and also gives you access to more financing programs as well,” he said. 

Daniels, for its part, recently received its first Rick Hansen Foundation gold certification for a completed 26-storey project called “Uniti” in Brampton, and is now pursuing the certification at developments in Markham, Oshawa, and Downtown Toronto.

Developer interest in accessible housing grows 

Both Daniels and Collecdev-Markee are members of the Accelerating Accessibility Coalition (AAC), a group of real estate developers and accessibility advocates who share resources, education and ideas for accessible housing.

Co-chair Arleigh Hack said the group has grown “exponentially” since its founding in 2022, with 115 members across six provinces.

Awareness around accessibility in homebuilding has increased, in part, due to the aging population creating more demand and advocating for seniors housing, she said, but also because collaboration across the industry has grown and more groups are “recognizing the value of incorporating accessibility early in the design and not as an afterthought.”

Hack noted CMHC’s MLI Select program has worked with 370 projects comprising 34,000 units across Canada that have accessibility commitments.

While accessible housing and AAC’s mandate is focused broadly on creating “inclusive, adaptable and resilient communities,” this type of housing is also “incredibly important” for seniors, Hack said.

“It doesn’t just mean long-term care or wheelchairs, for example,” she said, adding that people of all ages and abilities can benefit — including families with children, people with strollers, caregivers of aging parents or grandparents, people with temporary or permanent disabilities, and those who want to age in place.

To maintain this momentum, she said, there needs to be continued education and collaboration between the industry, governments and accessibility experts.

“If accessibility is being prioritized more broadly in the housing market, this will be good for seniors, whether it’s directly targeted to them or not.”