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Toronto Council has approved using the city's $75-million slice of a $200-million deal to sell Toronto Hydro's telecommunications unit to repair and upgrade the city's crumbling stock of public housing.

The deal to sell Toronto Hydro's telecom unit to the Montreal-based Cogeco was announced in the spring. Mayor David Miller made it clear at the time that he wanted the city's share of $75 million to go entirely into dealing with the $300-million backlog in repairs and basic maintenance to the city's housing stock.

Late Tuesday, Toronto Council voted to support that plan. That means that the Toronto Community Housing Corporation will, over the next month, be deciding exactly where it will spend the $75 million in the 5,000-unit repair backlog in its portfolio.

"About two-thirds will go toward interior work, refurbishing housing to bring it back to a decent standard," said Derek Ballantyne, CEO of the housing company. "About one-third is going to building system upgrades, roofs, mechanical systems, that kind of thing."

The $75 million won't clear the backlog, but it will make "a pretty big dent" in the list, said Ballantyne.

Mayor David Miller praised council for voting so overwhelmingly - 37 to 1 in favour, with only Ward 4 (Etobicoke Centre) Councillor Doug Holyday voting no.

"I thought it was a very important statement by our council, that they believe in investing in our housing," he said. "One of the easiest ways to provide housing for people is to take units that we own that are not fit to inhabit, and ensure that they are."

Holyday had wanted to divide the windfall among other infrastructure priorities such as transportation.