Ontario: the provincial election is February 27. What would you like to see on housing? More Neighbours Toronto has put together our ideas. We'll be grading the party platforms and statements against this to let you know where they stand. www.moreneighbours.ca/platforms-po... - ThreadSky

moreneighboursto.bsky.social • 24 days ago

Ontario: the provincial election is February 27. What would you like to see on housing?
More Neighbours Toronto has put together our ideas. We'll be grading the party platforms and statements against this to let you know where they stand. https://www.moreneighbours.ca/platforms-policy/provincial-platform

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mikedoherty.ca•24 days ago

I also want to see building code reform mentioned -- only the province can fix that, and it would improve viability of small-medium projects, especially infill.

moreneighboursto.bsky.social•24 days ago

100%. There is stuff about single stair reform and elevator standards in the full link.

whereisgraeme.bsky.social•23 days ago

Hoping I can ask some questions:
1. What is your working definition of financialization? What is the form and rate of the proposed tax?

2. Is this PUBLIC MEETING (Planning Act) or CCM? How was 15 arrived at?

3. Have you considered a higher threshold for SPA instead?

moreneighboursto.bsky.social•22 days ago

1. This suggestion was based on work out of Montreal that defined financialized landlords as property owners whose companies operate in the financial sector, including pension funds. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01944363.2022.2126382#d1e446

moreneighboursto.bsky.social•22 days ago

The work is correlative but finds that such landlords are more likely to own buildings where people spend >30% of income on housing costs, particularly precarious and student tenants. However, it is complicated because these landlords also own more dense, new buildings that house affluent tenants.

moreneighboursto.bsky.social•22 days ago

The idea would be to design a policy that prevents such landlords from achieving market dominance and then engaging in rent-seeking, to create a rental market that looks more like the diversified one of early 2000s Montreal.

moreneighboursto.bsky.social•22 days ago

We didn't prescribe specifics because of the limited research into successful methods of addressing the problem. It may be that a tax is not the best route, but it didn't make sense to leave the problem unmentioned just because it is challenging.

moreneighboursto.bsky.social•22 days ago

2. Our focus was on the CCM since these seem designed to invite opposition (and classism and more) rather than useful feedback. The HATF recommended exemptions for 10 units but the conversation has advanced since then as Toronto passed as-of-right permissions for up to 60 units on Major Streets.

futurematt.bsky.social•23 days ago

Where does the 1.5 million figure come from? Is it just a repeat of the government's previous pledge?

moreneighboursto.bsky.social•23 days ago

It's the number from the housing affordability task force report. But you can find similar estimates from the Smart Prosperity Institute. https://institute.smartprosperity.ca/Canadas-Need-for-3.5-Million-More-Homes

northernnerd.bsky.social•23 days ago

I'm not fundamentally opposed to this but if you're trying to build a platform shouldn't you go with an achievable figure and not a pie in the sky dream.

moreneighboursto.bsky.social•22 days ago

Why do you say that it is unachievable? The HATF felt that it was achievable in 2022. Perhaps the deadline should be shifted now that Ontario has fallen behind, but it would be possible with a 15% increase in starts for a few years and then building about 175k homes each subsequent year.

moreneighboursto.bsky.social•22 days ago

This is ambitious, but it is not unachievable. Nova Scotia's housing starts have increased at this rate even through high interest rates. Several Ontario municipalities have also hit their targets (although we recognize that this is partly due to how targets were assigned).

moreneighboursto.bsky.social•22 days ago

The most common objection is about construction labour but markets adjust to conditions. Currently, labour goes to renovations and high-rises because they're easier. Making other buildings easier would use labour more efficiently. See Enviro Defence's plan: https://environmentaldefence.ca/report/mid-rise-manual/

futurematt.bsky.social•22 days ago

Personally, I didn't think it was pie in the sky, I just wasn't aware of the basis for the number.

synrasa.bsky.social•24 days ago

We should also be creating job opportunities in other cities instead of trying to cram everyone into the GTA.

Diversify where people can work and live, and you can reduce demand on overburdened infrastructure.

moreneighboursto.bsky.social•24 days ago

The majority of Toronto neighbourhoods have lost population since the 1970s due to exclusionary zoning. Previous attempts to create New Towns have largely failed because it's not easy to recreate the success of existing cities.

synrasa.bsky.social•24 days ago

Nobody’s advocating for new towns, but rather bringing jobs to existing towns.

Furthermore our suggestions aren’t mutually exclusive. We can simultaneously increase the supply of housing while reducing the demand of housing. But I don’t see a lot of people talking about the latter.

ohtheurbanity.bsky.social•23 days ago

The problem is that there’s a reason companies like to set up shop close to each other, and the government only has a modest ability to impact their choices. It would be different if we were talking government jobs or something.

synrasa.bsky.social•23 days ago

We’re seeing the opposite trend with globalization. You’ve got adjacent processes taking place in different countries. (Machining and assembly)

Proximity matters with regards to primary and primary adjacent industries, (mining, farming, etc) or time sensitive processing steps.

ohtheurbanity.bsky.social•23 days ago

If employers want to move away from the GTA to smaller centres, they can feel free. I don’t think the government needs to take a heavy-handed role.

futurematt.bsky.social•23 days ago

It would be great to see better mix of land uses in smaller municipalities throughout the 905 and beyond.

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