Waterloo Region Yes In My Backyard

Despite planning dogma, “stable residential neighbourhoods” aren’t

Yesterday I sat for a lecture by 3 folks from ReHousing. Hosted by UofT's school of Arch, they detailed the history of change in Toronto, how post-war suburbs rubber-stamped neighbourhoods as repetitive as a 100 floor condo does today, horizontally, & how for half a century we've seen near no change

Yeah, it does seem familiar, unfortunately. Looks like an interesting piece.

Kitchener 2051 Help write Kitchener's new Official Plan. Share your voice. Shape our city.

Kitchener's Draft Official Plan is up for you to comment on! www.engagewr.ca/kitchener2051

For background, we made some preliminary comments on what we would like to see in an Official Plan- back in February last year- static1.squarespace.com/static/5f6b5...

"The convenience and choices cars provide can’t be denied, but cars also take priority over people all the time. We’ve structured our entire approach to housing around the needs of cars. In many cases, if a development can’t accommodate enough parking spaces, it can’t be built at all." -Philip Mills

Welcome! Where our Federal and Provincial aids hold gaps, we must persist. Where our local government needs time to change, we must loudly be patient. Loudly, so they feel our support for change. Loudly so th...

Anyone concerned with encampment evictions in Cambridge and the lack of shelter space (despite denials) should follow @reganbrusse.bsky.social's work here: www.mymothernamedmesunshine.ca?fbclid=IwY2x...

For real though, the stage 3 Waterloo route would connect the 4 largest growth areas outside Uptown. The only thing is it would be ludicrous to not rezone the Boardwalk for mixed use, because it's actually the perfect candidate for retrofitting sprawl*

*it's ludicrous we haven't done it yet period

Sorry, we won't have Carolyn Whitzman herself, but our group will be discussing her book in downtown Kitchener. Are you interested in that?

We'll be discussing @cwhitzman.bsky.social's book Home Truths on November 23rd, 2pm, downtown Kitchener. DM us for the address if you'd like to join this book club!

link here: www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/about/...

This would be a substantial, but very worthy, investment in affordable housing.
See our full piece here: static1.squarespace.com/static/5f6b5...

Scaling up affordable housing through a ‘Build Canada Homes’ proposal With a $40B annual investment, "Build Canada Homes" could deliver 200,000 non-market housing units annually – 40% of federal targets – by partnering with non-market developers and retaining government...

To do this, housing experts @cwhitzman.bsky.social
and Priya Perwani call for the creation of “at least 4.4 million affordable homes" to meet the target of 20 percent of our housing stock being affordable. maytree.com/publications...

Housing formerly homeless people with supports and without pre-conditions significantly improves their life outcomes, even to the point that it leads to reduced costs to other areas of government. www.kansascityfed.org/documents/87...
mentalhealthcommission.ca/what-we-do/a...

We have a long way to go. A 2023 Scotiabank report found that if Canada were to double the social housing proportion of its housing market, this would merely take us to the rich country average. www.scotiabank.com/ca/en/about/...

With the federal budget introduced on November 4, it’s worth highlighting the opportunity Canada has to significantly increase its social housing stock through Build Canada Homes. This can help us end homelessness. 1/5

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New housing stops landlords from raising rents—take it from the CEO of AvalonBay, one of NYC's largest landlords:
"We're well-positioned… we face significantly less new supply. Land entitled for multifamily is hard to come by, the amount of time it takes to get those entitlements… sets us up well.”

PSA: Stacked townhomes, rowhouses, apartments, and yes, even 'towers' are RESIDENTIAL. #HousingForAll

We've seen opposition to immigration due to housing affordability, and it's important to push back as housing advocates ourselves- immigration is an important source of broader opportunity in an unequal world. We can't be for removing barriers to housing while pushing for + barriers to citizenship

Stop Bill C-12 - Migrant Rights Network Send an Email Now! Bill C-12 is a cruel and violent law that aims to create a mass deportation machine: One-Year Refugee Deadline: Bill C-12 blocks anyone in Canada over one year from claiming refugee...

You can sign the @migrantrightsca.bsky.social petition on Bill C-12 here: migrantrights.ca/actionslist/... 6/6

We are not full. While people congregate in cities for the opportunities they provide, we have space for more
if we are willing to make room 5/6

Our full piece: static1.squarespace.com/static/5f6b5...

Anyone who supports immigration but opposes more housing needs to grapple with the contradiction inherent in these two positions. Anytime you oppose multi-residential housing developments, you make it harder to convince other Canadians that we are not ‘‘full”. 4/6

When debating housing developments, we constantly remind people to consider all people affected: future residents + current residents of a neighbourhood. It would be inconsistent to argue this while ignoring the needs of people that don’t happen to already have Canadian citizenship or residence. 3/6

So, why would WR YIMBY, a group that primarily focuses on housing, support defending refugees and immigration?

As “Yes in my backyard” housing advocates, “Yes in my backyard, but not in my country” would be a morally and logically incoherent position to take. 2/6

WR YIMBY is very concerned with the federal government’s Bill C-2 and the replacement Bill C-12, because each bill includes troubling measures that would limit migrant rights, including their right to claim asylum. We urge the federal government to rescind these bills @mark-carney.bsky.social 1/6

The thing about "gentle density" is that it's never gentle enough.

https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/329-hespeler-properties-in-line-for-special-heritage-status/article_bbaa20f7-0337-53d8-b3e6-f7fd1a1d48ab.html

I actually think there is value in considering which properties/areas should be 'protected' in some way, however, this article fails to mention some of the trade-offs that might come with the mass heritage protections that are proposed. www.therecord.com/news/waterlo...

The big picture on housing, density and affordability How Edmonton's approach fights for affordability and fiscal efficiency

"Whatever was meant, the othering of future neighbours was not persuasive to Council then, and it shouldn’t be now." Beyond the policy aspects, Don Iveson really hits at the most key ingredient for housing change: city councils with the moral imagination to brave opposition for a better city.

On brand for us: all four of our volunteers came by bike (one of them even did a multi-modal bike-bus-bike trip!)

The Climate Impact of Your Neighborhood, Mapped (Published 2022) Where and how you live shapes your household’s contribution to climate change. Explore differences across the nation.

"Residents in these areas typically drive less because jobs and stores are nearby and they can more easily walk, bike or take public transit. And they’re more likely to live in smaller homes or apartments that require less energy to heat and cool" 2/2
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...