A Toronto councillor wants the city to convert aging and underutilized office buildings into rental housing.

Brad Bradford will present a motion to the city’s planning and housing committee on Thursday calling for the city to make it easier to convert offices to residential use.

“Given the changing nature of work and the ongoing housing crisis, it is time to re-evaluate the need for office space,” Bradford wrote in his motion.

High vacancies in some major Canadian markets have prompted several investors and developers to contemplate and, in several cases, convert office buildings into rental housing.

But Brian Rosen, president and CEO of Colliers Canada, told Connect that Ontario is not ready for a large office-conversion program.

“We’re not there, in my mind, yet,” Brian Rosen, who is based in Toronto, told Connect in an interview.

Office conversions became highly popular in Calgary, where city hall has paused the Downtown Development Incentive Program after exhausting the $150-million budget for it.