TORONTO, ON—13 Aug. A small amount of affordable housing will soon join Toronto’s housing stock, with units set aside for musicians. Trade Routes Canada, a non-profit music industry development organization, will accept applications for 20 rent-controlled workforce housing units for Toronto’s music workforce. The newly constructed ROQ City development will include the homes at 261 Queen St. E. and 410 Richmond St. E. Blast Toronto first learned about the program through Hugh’s Room’s social media.
The units are part of a larger Canadian Music Community Housing Pilot, which also includes a comprehensive housing survey. Funding for the pilot is from the Community Housing Transformation Centre, meanwhile the landlord is Tricon. The pilot initiative keeps artists rooted in Toronto’s downtown core by addressing a profound market failure within the cultural sector. For instance: both Statistics Canada and Nordicity data show the median income for professional artists in Canada is $27,000. This is 43% below the national average. Subsequently, this leaves creative workers systematically locked out by standard rental screening criteria.
Therefore, to build long-term solutions for the sector, Trade Routes is launching an immediate Housing Referral Pilot program. Aggregating anonymized data from respondents, the survey will prove market demand for culture workforce housing. Trade Routes claims this will unlock funding for future regional and national housing acquisitions.
Pilot Background
“We are treating housing as essential cultural infrastructure,” says Michael Owen, Executive Director of Trade Routes Canada. Even if you are set for housing now, “taking a few minutes to complete the survey provides us with the data we need to secure future phases, funding, and assets. For those needing immediate housing, the ROQ City pilot pairs secure, rent-controlled units with an on-site recording studio, a teaching room, and co-work spaces included to lower the overall costs for a local musician or music professional.”
Submission for the ROQ City units of the Canadian Music Community Housing Pilot and other future opportunities officially opens to the local music community on August 31, 2026, at 12:00 PM EDT. Units will be offered in the order registered, although queued for verified music and arts professionals. At least one member of your household must be working, or have worked, as a professional musician or associated music professional in Canada within the past two years.
Also, City of Toronto’s guidelines for the specific unit size you require will determine the maximum income allowed per applicant.
Get Involved
- Complete the Community Housing Needs Survey: (Expansion For The Community) Open to all music and cultural sector workers across Canada to help expand future housing phases.
- Apply for ROQ City Units: (On August 31, 2026) Open to active sector professionals seeking downtown Toronto housing within the next six months.
About Trade Routes
Trade Routes Canada is a not-for-profit organization. It is dedicated to building infrastructure that enables professional performing artists and arts professionals to have sustainable careers. In order to make this possible, Trade Routes has launched an Attainable Workforce Housing Pilot Program in Toronto. The program works with major institutional landlords through existing city frameworks to secure stable, rent-controlled live-work housing for musicians and music workers. The effort responds to long-standing housing pressure on Toronto’s creative community. It also links large-scale real estate systems with the needs of the local music economy. The goal is basically to keep creative talent living, working, and producing in Toronto’s core.
For more information, please contact: music@traderoutes.ca
About Tricon
The developer of the housing units, Tricon Living is the multi-family subsidiary of Tricon Residential, a North American real estate company. They build, own, and operate a portfolio of “purpose-built rental apartments…defined by design excellence, signature resort-quality amenities, exceptional customer service, and resident programming.” Tricon Living is “a leading partner of all three levels of government,” and builds/operates many of Canada’s largest purpose-built rental apartment communities that integrate market and affordable rental units.
For more information, please contact:
Tricon: mediarelations@triconliving.com
About Community Housing Transformation Centre
Founded in 2018, the Community Housing Transformation Centre is a pan-Canadian non-profit. It is a sector-led organization backed by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) through Canada’s National Housing Strategy. The Centre believes everyone deserves a safe, affordable place to call home. Presently, it is working toward a more entrepreneurial and economically viable model of community housing—one that will serve the needs of Canadian communities, now and in the future.
For more information, please contact:
CHTC: communication@centre.support
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