The Toronto Catholic District School Board will spend nearly $1 million dollars per home to expropriate 17 North York townhouses to make way for a new high school.

TCDSB Chair Mike Del Grande estimates it will cost anywhere from $800,000 to $1 million to buy each home. In a controversial decision, the board voted six-to-four last night in favour of the expropriating the townhouses near Bayview and Cummer Avenues.

Fiona Fu is just one of several residents upset by the board's decision.

"There are a lot of lands that the school board owns, and for some reason they just really want to have this particular land," Fu said.

"I do want to see a school. I want to see St. Joseph's Morrow Park (school) alive, but this is not the right way for it to be alive."

But Del Grande, the former city councillor and budget chief, said the homeowners will be paid more than market value for their homes and will have their moving expenses covered as well.

"They'll be compensated, and then some, for their homes," he said.

"Obviously, nobody likes to put people out of their homes."

Del Grande also noted that new townhouses are being developed in the area, which could allow displaced residents to remain in the neighbourhood in the future.