Toronto community garden faces demolition as city accelerates supportive housing project

The Garrison Flats Community Garden, a green space in downtown Toronto since 1997, will be demolished to make room for an eight-storey supportive housing building.

The garden sits on city-owned land at Wellington Street West near Strachan Avenue, next to the Maple Green building, a shuttered former stable whose roof partially collapsed in late August. The city sent demolition notice to gardeners in early September, moving faster than the original promise that gardeners could use the space until 2027.

The new supportive housing project will have 81 units. The city plans to relocate the community garden to adjacent South Stanley Extension Park, but gardeners are pushing back. Sandy Douglas, a community organizer at the garden, called it "a cornerstone of peace and relaxation, and in today's city, there's not a lot of that." Gardener Shoshanah Mackay said the relocation is unnecessary: "We're talking about 80 feet here. It's worth it to think again. There's so much value in terms of natural habitat. The destruction of this garden is not necessary."

The gardeners support building the supportive housing but oppose losing the established garden. They've attended city meetings, lobbied local politicians and launched a petition, arguing the time and work already invested makes it irreplaceable. City spokesperson Alexandra Dinsmore said engineers advised that "demolition should proceed sooner to help protect the public, neighbouring properties and the adjacent heritage building."

Local Councillor Ausma Malik, herself a former Garrison Flats gardener, is directing community benefits funding toward the move — prioritizing storage space and water access at the new location. Malik's goal is to "meet everyone's needs to be able to preserve the garden right next door to the site" while proceeding with the city's commitment to supportive and affordable housing.

The city has not announced a revised timeline for the garden relocation or building demolition, nor has it disclosed the total budget for the supportive housing project.