Rexdale SNAP

Rexdale is an area with vulnerable populations, concentrated poverty, and serious food insecurity and is considered a Neighbourhood Improvement Area by the City of Toronto.

Rexdale has seen almost no development/redevelopment in the last 60 years, and the residential sector offers significant opportunities for both climate mitigation and resilience, and overall housing improvements.

Rexdale has a low tree canopy cover compared to the rest of Toronto and offers ample opportunity to increase urban canopy cover.

Areas within Rexdale are subject to riverine flooding, with some residences located within the regional/100-year flood plain and vulnerable to basement flooding.

Rexdale is a high priority area for LID retrofits due to its location within the Humber watershed, the presence of medium-high impervious soils, and its depth to water table which is conducive to infiltration.

Various sites along the Humber River in Rexdale are susceptible to erosion and would benefit from restoration and mitigation initiatives.

Sensitive target fish species have been identified in sections of the Humber River crossing through the neighbourhood.

Rexdale’s stormwater system discharges to a downstream ESA.

Areas within Rexdale are vulnerable to urban heat stress.

Aging park infrastructure presents an opportunity for park revitalization.

Rexdale is bisected by multiple branches of a Canadian Heritage River. This designation offers an opportunity to work with Indigenous communities and multiple levels of government to enhance nature-based and history education.

A series of planned capital projects can be leveraged to achieve enhanced environmental resilience and social impacts in this community through the SNAP program.

Community initiatives and great collaboration are already taking place in Rexdale, offering opportunities to join forces to achieve efficiencies and maximize impact in the community.

The community feels that the infrastructure in the neighbourhood, including housing, is not as well maintained, safe, or beautiful as in other parts of Toronto. Residents want to improve their experience of services through partnerships with government and other sectors.

Climate vulnerabilities from the built environment in this neighbourhood should also be promptly addressed.

The community loves to spend time in nature and is interested in improving access to green space and offering nature-based education.

Habitats and urban forests should be enhanced, and erosion in the Humber Valley must be addressed.

On-site stormwater management, through LID measures, should be implemented across the neighbourhood.

The community expressed its struggles with the cost of living in Toronto and is interested in approaches and supports to achieve cost savings and enhanced opportunities for income generation.

The community strongly values unity and neighbourhood relationships, and therefore wants additional support to enhance and celebrate community cohesion.

Mental and physical health, and food security, are very strong priorities for the community and should be addressed through all Action Areas in the Action Plan. The community has strong family values that should be supported and celebrated.

Rexdale is a spiritual community. Residents often mentioned how they translate their religious values into their day-to-day life.

The community is especially interested in expanding its current mutual aid practices and facilitating mind-body activities for all ages

Protecting and enhancing natural features and greenspaces to keep them clean, safe, and beautiful.

• Safe, clean family parks with good amenities
• Better access to ravines and opportunities to connect with nature
• Multi-season programming and animation
• Integration of the arts: sculptures, monuments, murals, and music
• Meeting spaces
• Opportunities for mind-body activities/meditation
• Urban agriculture
• Sustainable stormwater management (SWM), tree planting, habitat, and ecological restoration

Implementation Progress to Date

• Sponge Neighbourhoods Initiative: TRCA secured funding from Environment Canada through EcoAction to deliver a Sponge Neighbourhoods initiative in four neighbourhoods participating in the SNAP Program, with the Rexdale SNAP being one of them. The project includes the development of neighbourhood-wide green infrastructure (GI) plans and implementation of selected (GI) projects. It also includes interpretative signage explaining the benefits of GI and nature-based education, including Indigenous-based education.
• COVID Memorial Garden: Responding to a vision or desire expressed by the community during the engagement process, TRCA secured funding from a private donor and partnered with the City of Toronto and the Rexdale Community Hub to implement a beautiful native species memorial garden with sitting areas to remember the victims of the pandemic and commemorate the front-line workers and community leaders who stood up to support the Rexdale community (one of the hardest hit by the pandemic).
• Rowntree Mills Planting Event: Students from Venerable John Merlini Catholic School volunteered on May 9, 2023 to plant a variety of native shrubs in Rowntree Mills Park.
• Indigenous Ceremonial Space at the Humber Arboretum: Humber College is working with Indigenous leaders, TRCA, and the City of Toronto towards the planning and design of an Indigenous ceremonial space at the Humber Arboretum that will also be used as a gathering space for the Rexdale community.
• Neighbourhood-wide Urban Agriculture Strategy and Implementation of Selected Projects: TRCA received funding from the Greater Toronto Airport Authority to develop and implement a strategy that will help to improve access to local fresh food in the Rexdale community, while simultaneously achieving other neighbourhood sustainability goals. A draft of the strategy has been completed in collaboration with many community partners and selected projects will be implemented in 2024 across the neighbourhood.
• Ecological Restoration and Erosion Control: TRCA’s Restoration Services and Erosion teams have been working hard to continue to address restoration and erosion priorities along the Humber River. The local community has been involved in some of these initiatives through public plantings and educational activities.

Sharing and reusing resources for affordability, income, and sustainability, and to strengthen the community fabric towards mutual aid.

• Resource sharing or circularity (technology/wi-fi, transportation, books, food)
• Space sharing (to meet, to work from home, for food hubs)
• Information sharing through trusted sources
• Mutual aid: neighbour to neighbour supports
• Skills sharing (cooking, healthy living, translation/newcomer supports)

Implementation Progress to Date

• Circular Economy Strategy: TRCA worked with the City of Toronto and the Rexdale Community Hub to develop a high-level framework for a strategy to make Rexdale the first circular neighbourhood in Canada. The team is fundraising towards the strategy development and implementation.
• Material Exchange Program: TRCA brought our Partners in Project Green (PPG) Material Exchange Program to Rexdale. The community has benefited as a receiver of various products. For example, the Rexdale Women’s Centre and the S.H.I.F.T Adult Shelter received 22 bunk beds that would have otherwise gone to waste.

Maximizing quality of life though functional, affordable, low carbon and resilient housing.

• Climate resilient housing
• Indoor and outdoor revitalization of multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs) and programming for residents
• Multi-objective home retrofit program (for GHG, SWM, flooding, eco-landscaping, urban agriculture)
• Exploration of district energy solutions
• Mutual-benefit programs connecting houses and MURBS

Implementation Progress to Date

• Harvest the Rain Retrofit Program: From 2016-2018, TRCA piloted scaling of the Harvest the Rain Home Retrofit Program in the Rexdale neighbourhood. Harvest the Rain was a program originally initiated in the Black Creek SNAP. The program offered free, face-to-face home consultations and ongoing support to help homeowners retrofit their homes and yards through energy, water, stormwater management, flood prevention, urban agriculture, and eco-landscaping actions. The program also offered small incentives, and helped homeowners access existing government incentives and programs. It was a highly successful pilot, with 56 participating homes, of which 96% implemented at least one significant sustainability or resilience action, such as insulation, basement flooding prevention, tree planting, and rainwater harvesting.
• Surplus Harvest Donation Program: During this period, TRCA also worked with the City of Toronto’s Urban Harvest Program and the RCH to bring the Surplus Harvest Donation Program to Rexdale and three other neighbourhoods in the city. This program, initially created by TRCA in the Black Creek SNAP, collects surplus harvest from the neighbourhood houses and brings it to meal programs and food banks within the community, helping to address food insecurity while reducing waste and GHG related to food transportation.
• Growing Healthy Towers Initiative: TRCA received funding from the Public Health Agency of Canada to develop multi-sectoral solutions to address social determinants of health for residents living in towers through environmental action. The Rexdale and Bramalea SNAP neighbourhoods were used as case studies. Through a partnership with the Rexdale Community Hub, resident leaders were hired to undertake public engagement. Approximately 50 different agencies and organizations from multiple sectors participated in co-developing solutions and initiating collaborations for action.
• Tower Renewal and Green Champions Plus: TRCA is working with Toronto’s Tower and Neighbourhood Revitalization Unit to support expansion of their initiatives in the Rexdale Neighbourhood. A workshop for Rexdale building owners is planned for the fall of 2023. The teams are also exploring the delivery of an enhanced Green Champions program, in which resident leaders will be hired to advance a variety of environmental, climate resilience, health and well-being, and community development initiatives within their towers.

Developing vibrant community life through green, safe, and attractive streetscapes.

• Ecological function and sustainable stormwater management
• Clean and litter-free
• More trees and flowers that stimulate the senses
• Safe for pedestrians, from cars and crime
• Beautiful places of vibrant community life/street festivals and art
• Opportunity for skills training and jobs on maintenance of right of way
• Bike lanes/bike infrastructure and pedestrian improvements

Implementation Progress to Date

• Initiation of Planning and Design Phase: The City of Toronto’s Transportation Services Division is initiating planning and design work towards the greening and beautification of main intersections along Kipling Avenue. TRCA facilitated a meeting on June 14, 2023, to discuss options with community leaders. Innovative design ideas were discussed. Construction is anticipated to begin in 2025-26.