Housing Affordability Task Force (Advocate)

The suburbs are what you get when you have representation without taxation.

Sent tweet.

MAJOR NEWS: @GavinNewsom signed SB 79, my bill allowing more housing near public transit — rail, subway, rapid bus.

It’s a huge step for housing in California. It’ll create more homes, strengthen our transit systems & reduce traffic & carbon emissions.

Thank you, Governor!

‘Something doesn’t smell right’: $100 million in Skills Development Fund grants traced to lobbyists with ties to Ontario premier Clients of lobbyists with ties to Ontario's premier and his office snagged at least $100 million in Skills Development Fund grants, according to an analysis of the data by CTV News.

Are we surprised?
"The lion’s share of those funds went to a lobbying firm run by the same man who managed the election campaign that brought Premier Doug Ford into office, the records show."
Paying the people who screwed us.
www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/poli...

Vehicles registered to Ford cabinet ministers caught by speed cameras more than 20 times | Globalnews.ca Documents obtained by Global News reveal that, over three years, vehicles registered to Ford’s cabinet minister received more than $3,300 in fines for speeding.

NEW: Vehicles registered to Doug Ford's cabinet ministers have been caught by automated speed cameras more than 20 times.

In one case, they were driving 70 in a 40 zone. On average, they were 17 over the limit. #OnPoli
globalnews.ca/news/1146373...

Weird how none of these tickets are amongst the "stats" from the Premier claiming that 32,000 Toronto tickets are for going 2 km/h over. It's almost like the minimum is around 10 km/h over and the Premier just made up some nonsense that wasn't true.

Vehicles registered to Ford cabinet ministers caught by speed cameras more than 20 times | Globalnews.ca Documents obtained by Global News reveal that, over three years, vehicles registered to Ford’s cabinet minister received more than $3,300 in fines for speeding.

🤤 (shocked, shocked I tell you)

disband the Toronto Parking Authority

How Doug Ford went from 0 to 60 on speed cameras — and why he’s ignoring the flashing warning signs Premier Doug Ford’s vow to outlaw speed cameras, six years after his government enabled their existence, flies in the fact of scientific evidence and carries risk for the populist premier.

www.thestar.com/politics/pro...

Find a premier who looks at development charges the way Doug Ford looks at speed cameras.

👇

You know what’s really good traffic calming infrastructure? Bike lanes.

#ONPoli #TOPoli #BikeTO #VisionZero

Oh god no stop it hurts.

Finland ends homelessness and provides shelter for all in need - scoop.me In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Why? The country applies the "Housing First" concept agains homelessness.

“In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. Those affected receive a small apartment & counselling with no preconditions. 4 out of 5 people affected make their way back into a stable life. And all this is CHEAPER than accepting homelessness.”

It costs a lot less to house people.

👀

Someone should go read the big bad REITs financial statements, pay special attention to the risk disclosures where they explain their strategy to get higher rents is to have buildings where government regulations block new supply of rental units and so they don’t have competition.

Are REITs good for housing? CMHC says we need more, raising concerns among some housing experts Critics say the national housing agency has drifted from its affordability mandate, while CMHC says it wants to increase housing supply while protecting tenants.

www.thestar.com/real-estate/...

If a REIT allocates private capital to build a new structure that adds units to the housing stock, these people think that’s bad and we should stop it? In the name of affordability? They just don’t like tall buildings.

The most impactful housing bill in California history is on the 1 yard line. It has passed the assembly and the senate vote is TODAY!

Right now is your last chance to call your state senator and tell them to support building more housing near transit!

cayimby.org/call-sb-79/

Confining Rental Homes to Busy Streets Is a Devil’s Bargain | Sightline Institute This shouldn't need to be said: nobody’s home should be a “buffer” against traffic noise and pollution for someone else’s.

Confining new apartments to lots facing loud, polluted, high-traffic arterial streets is profoundly inequitable. www.sightline.org/2021/10/19/c...

Scrapping 100% tariff on Chinese EVs would be death knell for Canada’s auto industry, experts warn The tariff, which came into place almost a year ago, faces an automatic review, with results due by Oct. 1.

www.thestar.com/business/scr...

The argument appears to be if we let china sell us low cost electric vehicles then the USA will take aggressive trade action to crush Canada’s auto manufacturing sector…. And I’m here to tell you brother that ship has sailed.

Barrie mayor declares state of emergency over homeless encampments: ‘Our city will not allow lawlessness to take over’ Mayor Alex Nuttall said the encampments are “not acceptable” in a press conference on Tuesday.

www.thestar.com/news/ontario...

Regular reminder that homelessness is a housing problem. Homelessness is correlated to rent prices. The higher rents go the more homelessness you will get. The solution is to build more housing!

Homeless people are not the only people who need homes.

There are tens of millions of people who would like to move out of their parents’ houses, ditch their roommates, or leave a bad home situation but can’t because our housing shortage makes rent too expensive.

Timber Residential Construction Kit / Sehw Architektur Completed in 2024 in Berlin, Germany. Images by Helin Bereket. Located in a mature residential area in northern Berlin, this project spans 9,000 m² and includes over 100 apartments across new and exis...

please enjoy this mass timber social housing where midrise development and trees are co-exist.

2-story wood aufstockung (vertical addition) w/ infill point access block in courtyard. number of homes *doubled*

www.archdaily.com/1033635/timb...

Images of Dutch bike infrastructure

IMPORTANT: The Dutch invest €595 million annually on urban biking, resulting in €19 BILLION saved in public health care costs alone. That’s how smart govts do the math on investing in better mobility.

Let’s be clear— it wastes public money to NOT do it.

#CityMakingMath HT @modacitylife.bsky.social

Halving DCs Won’t Survive the Political Math A case study of three provinces

open.substack.com/pub/missingm...

CBC News Network's Ian Hanomansing speaks with Brent Toderian about transit congestion this fall Get the latest on CBCNews.ca, the CBC News App, and CBC News Network for breaking news and analysis.

WATCH: What are BETTER SOLUTIONS for traffic congestion in cities, especially as big employers are now forcing people back to the office? PLUS how politicians claiming bike-lanes cause congestion ARE LYING TO YOU! Watch my CBC interview with @ianhanomansing.bsky.social that played across Canada.

💯

Eagerly awaiting the discussion of the detached home bubble, the glut of detached homes and the discussion of how detached homes are obviously the wrong type of housing and we shouldn't be building them anymore.
Robertson? Pasalis? Mortgage guy? Where y'all at? www.thestar.com/real-estate/...

A chart summarizing what services are eligible to be included in development charges for three provinces. Ontario includes the most services, followed by BC, and Alberta allows charges for the fewest services. There are nuances limiting some charges to certain municipalities or partial collection, as outlined in the article.

A timely article from @alexbeheshti.bsky.social at MMI on development charge (DC) differences across Ontario, BC and Alberta. Key chart that attempts to summarize the complex pieces of legislation across these provinces. www.missingmiddleinitiative.ca/p/halving-dc...

Toronto should follow suit. Standardize the lot and building requirements that give us in effect thousands of zones. Get down to a handful of residential zones. Make the new zones permissive so they don't shrink wrap the existing built form or prevent infill through excessive requirements.

Toronto condo market is in ‘free fall,’ federal housing minister says The Toronto condo market “is now in free fall,” Federal Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Gregor Robertson told the Star in an exclusive sit-down interview.

www.thestar.com/real-estate/...

Um, we haven’t built too many condos….

What we’ve done add so much cost via government regulation and taxes that developers can’t lower prices to the market clearing price. Government has set a price floor that is higher than what buyers are willing to pay.

Convenient reminder that Toronto's survey on Neighbourhood Retail is open until September 30. They are currently not proposing this, but you could ask them to? www.toronto.ca/city-governm...