Housing Affordability Task Force (Advocate)

Lol. Cycling advocates did lightning-speed deputations to help IEC get through this without losing quorum and then Colle concluded with "We've gotta go to about 20 development meetings here. All over the city. We're building condos everywhere. Nobody buys them."
Always a pleasure, Deputy Mayor!

For years, I’ve heard Toronto people claim that heritage doesn’t stop new housing. That has always been nonsense.

Now the city is *openly, explicitly* saying a rich area shouldn’t be rezoned because heritage is more important than housing.

www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis...

Certain members of Toronto City Council will insist to you that Toronto's development charges are 100% necessary and no municipality could fund its capital budget without them and that they have no impact on housing construction. I don't think those beliefs can survive contact with reality.

Yesterday at Planning and Housing Committee, multiple letters and deputations referred to single family houses in Neighbourhoods as "starter homes" and "relatively affordable."
One thing about public comment sessions is they're filled with people who haven't Googled a house price in decades.

Also at Planning and Housing: first look at how they'll implement Avenues and it's disappointing and limited. Everyone just acting like it's already job done. No housing crisis to see here.

It's a Planning and Housing Committee meeting where we're going to add even stricter tree protection rules that make multiplexes harder to build followed by an Executive Committee meeting that will make it more expensive to acquire houses to turn into multiplexes. Looks a lot like internal backlash.

Get in losers, we're doing a...

... *squints at page* ...

...an anti-land tax.

Georgists hardest hit.

Doug Ford about literally just building homes: well it's complicated we've got to work with our municipal partners

Doug Ford about the firms he's granting millions of dollars to: Planning Act whatnow?

One more design review panel bro. I swear, just one more design review panel.

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.

YouTube video by Urban3 The Inherent Value of Density (...And The Cost of Sprawl)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmQo...

Regular reminder that homelessness is a housing problem.

This is nonsensical @thechronicleherald.bsky.social, if anything having more renters in apartments means fewer capped properties, and more property tax revenue. Also, no mention of the cap??

The Daily Show nailed another one of talking heads flip flop. Do they actually care any more?

Last week: Neighbourhood retail is maintaining pre-amalgamation divides in Toronto.

This week: Minimum lot sizes are an outdated artefact of pre-amalgamation zoning that divides Toronto.

We wrote to the province on Bill 60 to support the removal of minimum lot sizes.

50 Reasons Why Everyone Should Want More Walkable Streets From making you live longer to making cities more resilient: If you want a reason to make your city more walkable, it's in here.

“Someone with a 1-hr car commute needs to earn 40% more to be as happy as someone with a short walk to work. On the other hand, if someone shifts from a long commute to a walk, their happiness increases as much as if they’d fallen in love.” #CityMakingMath

50 reasons to want more walkable cities.

👇👇👇👇👇👇💯

This has been my gripe for a long time now. If you took the words seriously, rigorously, if we established a clear right to housing in the Charter, then you'd basically nuke municipal zoning nearly in its entirety — certainly as it's practiced in Ontario.

3 councillors opposing 6 storeys near Islington station. Time for all three to go.

🚨 Bill 60 would BAN new bike lanes that take a lane from cars — province-wide. This is a direct attack on road safety, climate action, and livable cities. Raise your voice. Tell the Ford government: #SafeStreets aren’t optional.
#Bill60 #BikeHamOnt #HamOnt #onpoli

Editorial: Bike Lane Haters Keep On Losing - Streetsblog Massachusetts As it turns out, a considerable number of informed voters understand that if we actually want less traffic, we need to design streets that favor more efficient modes of transportation.

Editorial: Bike Lane Hating Politicians Keep On Losing -
As it turns out, a considerable number of informed voters understand that if we actually want less traffic, we need to design streets that favor more efficient modes of transportation.
#mapoli
mass.streetsblog.org/2025/11/05/e...

single stair + eliminating parking mandates - two great wins for affordable housing

There's a push for single-stair apartments in Canada. Calgary firefighters want the city to reject it | CBC News Calgary’s firefighters union is trying to prevent what it calls a dangerous housing trend — in which multi-storey housing buildings are being constructed with only one stairwell — from making its way ...

Has this firefighters’ union done a comparative study to explain why almost every one of the world’s richest nations allows single stair access? Or are they just making stuff up?

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Sign the petition in the thread. NIMBY groups are gathering again to defeat retail in neighbourhoods. Just saw a letter from “no more noise” objecting. It’s a city. Stop sterilizing it. Biz/cafes/even bars in neighbourhoods work in humane cities around the world.

Courtyard buildings are the answer.

On letterhead for Councillor Dianne Saxe (Ward 11, University-Rosedale) "Palmerston Area Character Study and heritage evaluation Dear Toronto and East York Community Council members: SUMMARY: Palmerston Avenue and surrounding streets constitute a distinctive and beautiful residential area with distinctive architecture and design context. It has long been on the list of candidate areas for a Heritage Conservation District. Recent policy changes are accelerating intensification and new housing in this unique area. While additional housing is needed and can help support local businesses, it is important that development be guided by an understanding of community priorities as it relates to matters of design."

Councillors will put in black and white that they are requesting a heritage study in response to intensification and new housing. And then heritage staff will tell you to your face that heritage doesn't prevent development.

A graph showing that Ontario housing starts lag the rest of Canada from RBC Economics: https://www.rbc.com/en/thought-leadership/economics/canadianhousing/special-housing-reports/canada-isnt-in-a-housing-starts-slump-ontario-is/

There are many things trade unions could say about the Skills Development Fund and their relationship with the PCs, but claiming that they endorsed Ford because he supports building and brings them work is the least believable. www.thestar.com/politics/pro...

I don't know why the federal government is so determined to let Toronto torpedo its housing programs. Other cities can meet the criteria and they have to be wondering why they bothered.

And there you have it. I don't see how this initiative builds a single more home, and I'm unclear how the federal government's decision to waive its own development charge freeze condition will help lower homebuilding costs.