Revitalizing communities through research, advocacy, and action.
Tower Renewal Partnership (TRP) is a nonprofit initiative which works through research, advocacy and demonstration. Our goal is to transform postwar towers and their surrounding neighbourhoods into more sustainable, resilient and healthy places, fully integrated into their growing cities.
Over 10 years ago, The Tower Renewal Partnership was formed to promote tower neighbourhood reinvestment. As the originators of the made-in-Toronto concept and term “Tower Renewal”, we saw the value in tower neighbourhoods and fought for their preservation when many suggested outright demolition. Working as thought leaders and champions of this work, the term Tower Renewal is now ubiquitous.
In Canada, the TRP has worked with municipal, provincial and federal governments to recognize the preservation of affordable housing as a key public policy priority. This has been a precursor to the federal government’s National Housing Strategy Repair and Renewal Program, designed to enable Tower Renewal cross country through a $6.6 Billion fund launched in 2017. The City of Toronto’s Tower and Neighbourhood Revitalization Unit, launched in 2008, has been the backbone of action and policy, framing Toronto’s response to resilient towers.
The TRP’s work includes:
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- Promoting and advocating for the “Tower Renewal” strategy to prevent the loss or demolition of critical housing stock
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- Conducting applied research on topics such as:
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- Financing deep retrofits including government grant/financing mixes, tax credits and emerging financial products and tools.
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- Technical solutions to retrofit design challenges such as exterior cladding, thermal bridges and HVAC.
- Conducting retrofits with residents remaining in units during construction
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- Conducting applied research on topics such as:
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- Providing advice to all levels of government to improve their position and support of Tower Renewal objectives
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- Communicating renewal successes and creating and distributing case studies
The Tower Renewal Partnership has relied on a broad network of supporting partners, including: the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the Atmospheric Fund, the Government of Ontario, the City of Toronto, Toronto Public Health, University of Toronto, United Way GTA, Evergreen, Maytree Foundation, Metcalf Foundation, Atkinson Foundation, and the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation.