Toronto’s publicly owned housing agency — the city’s largest landlord — is reporting a sharp increase in expenses incurred by employees, which it says is largely due to more staff attending conferences and other types of training.
On Friday, Toronto Community Housing Corp.’s audit committee reviewed a summary of staff’s expenses, which the agency is required to disclose when staff members have an annual salary that exceeds $100,000, including its president and board of directors.
That report showed expenses claimed by TCHC employees rose by 137 per cent. Expenses incurred by its CEO Sean Baird grew by 831 per cent. Its board of directors also saw expenses rise exponentially by 978 per cent. In total, the agency saw expenses rise by about $330,000 between 2024 and 2025.
The rise in expenses comes as TCHC continues to face funding challenges, including paying for sorely needed repairs within its building portfolio. The report comes at a time where the city’s largest landlord saw several complexes fall into devastating disrepair, leaving some homes with holes in their ceilings.
Earlier this year, the social housing agency warned that half of its homes could rapidly deteriorate into critical disrepair in the next 10 years unless new funding comes in next year’s budget. Nearly 93,000 Torontonians lived in TCHC-owned homes as of last year, including 10,000 children between infancy and age 12.
TCHC has said it would need to spend $4.5 billion to repair its buildings between 2026 and 2035.
Robin Smith, the TCHC’s spokesperson, said there were two factors that drove these expense increases: fluctuations in spending due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and a disclosure requirement implemented for staff who made over $100,000.
In 2025, TCHC says it had a 40 per cent increase in employees who earn over $100,000, due to the agency’s annual cost of living adjustment to keep up with inflation.
“As the report indicates, there has been significant under-spending on the annual training budget because of the impact of COVID-19,” said Smith. “That is normalizing now, which gives the appearance of a large increase, however, TCHC is still well below pre-pandemic levels.”
In 2019, Smith said TCHC spent $967 on average per employee across the agency, but this number dipped as low as $205 on average per employee during the pandemic.
In 2025, the agency spent $463 on average per employee.
These expenses can cover the cost of staff training, safety equipment, conference participation and “professional credential maintenance.”
The new expense reports show expenses claimed by Baird shot up by over 800 per cent last year. In 2025, Baird spent $7,237, attributed to conferences and training, covering travel, registration and meals.
That compares to $777 that he spent in 2024 in the same category.
When asked about Baird’s expenses, Smith said Baird joined TCHC midway through 2024 and “spent that year getting settled in the organization.”
In 2025, Baird’s increased spending was linked to “attendance and speaking engagements at several housing conferences and government meetings,” within the country, which is “typical” for the agency CEO.
The agency’s board of directors had an increase of 978 per cent and spent $8,365 compared to $779 in 2024.
Employee expenses for conferences and training reached $401,910. That is a sharp increase compared to 2024, when the agency spent $170,199 and 2023, when they spent only $92,636.
The expense report also notes the increase in spending last year compared to 2024 was due to the staff training budget going underused in previous years.
“We invest a moderate amount of money to ensure that employees, leaders and board members develop their skills and are equipped to do their work,” he said.
