The city’s executive committee has postponed considering selling hundreds of Toronto social housing properties and using the proceeds to upgrade and repair other multi-residential buildings.

The committee was supposed to debate the issue Monday to sell 675 properties containing 740 units operated by Toronto Community Housing Corp. (TCHC). But the matter has been deferred. No new date was provided.

It was estimated the units could fetch at least $222 million on the market, which would be used to cover some of the backlog of repairs over five years at other social housing buildings.

The backlog of repairs is now worth about $751 million, up from $650 million a year ago. It is expected to reach $1.7 billion by 2020.

The city has faced strong objection from the public over the proposed sale of social housing. The Toronto & York Region Labour Council said in a letter that the proposed sale does nothing to solve the social housing problem and  "strenuously objects" to the sale.

If the recommendation to sell those properties is approved by the committee at a later date, the matter will still require a vote by city council. Furthermore, 644 of them will need approval from the province’s Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing and/or Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

TCH originally requested that 872 standalone properties be sold by the city. However, 168 of them aren’t for consideration at this time, 11 have already been approved for sale and 18 are not recommended for sale because of legal agreements with supportive housing agencies. That brings the overall number of properties for consideration to 675.