The Local: How Toronto’s Mayoral Candidates Plan to Address the Housing Crisis

How Toronto’s Mayoral Candidates Plan to Address the Housing Crisis

Yet another municipal election is nigh. In my new piece for The Local, I analyze six top mayoral candidates’ housing platforms, which range from ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ to an ambitious return to the days of government-built mixed-income social housing on a large scale.

Just the numbers (this table is in the article, too):

AMR = Average Market Rent. In 2023, AMR in Toronto is $1,538 for a one-bedroom and $1,811 for a two-bedroom unit.
Saunders Bradford Bailão Chow Hunter Matlow
Total cost Unspecified Unspecified $49M $404M $1B $407M
Source Not taxes Not taxes City Building Fund (existing) City Building Fund increase Property tax increase, reserve funds Cancelling Gardiner East, freezing police bucget
Units Unspecified At least 16,000 (as in original Housing Now plan) HousingTO targets, provincial mandate of 285,000 10,000–25,000 22,700 15,000
Affordability At least some units in developments on city-owned land 33% of housing on under-utilized city-owned land, 20% in office conversions 40,000 affordable rentals and 4,000 affordable ownership by 2030 At least 7,500 at 80% AMR, 2,500 at 30% AMR 5,660 at AMR, 3,468 at 80% AMR, 2,108 at 40% AMR, 6,135 affordable ownership 45% affordable rental (30% at AMR, 10% at 80% AMR, 5% rent geared to income, or at 30-40% AMR); subject to consultations

The Local: Candidate Tracker

Candidate Tracker 2022

The municipal election is nigh. I’ve been working behind the scenes, contributing research for The Local’s Candidate Tracker. Check it out—you can read up on Council candidates’ backgrounds, see where they stand on issues like shelter, affordable housing, and police funding, and compare them to incumbent councillors’ voting records.

Pivoting to Spiders

Note to readers: I am taking a hiatus from the whole City Hall thing. I’ll soon be cancelling all your recurring Paypal donations and putting the Patreon on hold.

It’s not about money or the work or anything. It’s just an existential despair thing, you know?

Thank you for your support over the years. I could not have done it without you.

If you want the long version, here you go. Continue reading Pivoting to Spiders

2018 Municipal Election Postmortem

So after all the protests and petitions, court dates and emergency Council meetings, Doug Ford’s Thanos’ing of City Council went ahead. And it turned out the only way it could: a newly elected council even more homogeneous than the last one, and even less representative than the city it serves. I’m sure a lot of people are wondering, “Why even bother?” I know I am.

Anyway, I dashed off this quick summary of how everything shakes out, and a few remarks on what may happen this upcoming term. (Skip to Analysis if you want.)

Continue reading 2018 Municipal Election Postmortem

Subscribers & Toronto Election Stuff

So, some of the people who give me money are running for City Council in the upcoming election. Someone asked me about this yesterday and I’ve thought about it a bit, and I think it would be inappropriate for candidates to keep donating to me during the election period. (And obviously afterwards as well, if they win.)

I’ll be going through Patreon and Paypal to check who is running and message them individually, but this is just a heads up.

I’m grateful for everyone’s support, and wish candidates luck in the campaign ahead!

The Cheat Sheet: June 2018 City Council

Livestream · Meeting Monitor

Welcome to this term’s penultimate Council meeting! There’s quite a lot on the agenda, including a slew of Integrity Commissioner investigations, laneway housing, improving deadly intersections, and more.

Warning: there are even more swears and opinions than usual. Lately I just feel civility is overrated, you know?

Continue reading The Cheat Sheet: June 2018 City Council

The Cheat Sheet: May 2018 City Council

Livestream · Meeting Monitor

First of all, my apologies for getting this out late, especially because there is a lot of important stuff on the agenda. We’ve got a council appointment (and another departure), the Eglinton East LRT, #TOcore, new affordable housing opportunities, the Seniors Strategy, and more.

Continue reading The Cheat Sheet: May 2018 City Council

The Cheat Sheet: May 2017 City Council

I’m back, bitches! On a site where I can say “bitches”! I’ll try not to go overboard. Here’s everything worth caring about on this month’s City Council agenda. Watch the livestream or follow my tweets.

Continue reading The Cheat Sheet: May 2017 City Council