Our affordable housing crisis can be solved. Here’s how
Toronto faces a crisis of housing affordability that threatens the well-being of its people and their ability to achieve the Canadian Dream, as well as acts as a fundamental break on our economic progress.
In the past several decades, Toronto has transformed from a sleepy regional hub into one of the nation’s and the world’s leading global cities. It is the engine that drives the economy of Ontario and Canada.
Over the last decade, it has leapt into global “superstar city” status, becoming a powerful tech hub, generating highpaying knowledge jobs at a breakneck pace. In fact, Toronto added more than 80,000 new tech jobs between 2012 and 2017, better than New York or the Silicon Valley, according to a report on the world’s leading tech hubs released last month.
But, that very success has pushed housing prices into the stratosphere. Toronto is the world’s ninth least affordable housing market according to a 2018 survey. The median house in the city costs 7.7 times the median household income, a bigger affordability gap than in New York City.
The city’s housing affordability crisis acts as a fundamental limit on our future progress. The talent needed to fuel our economy can no longer afford to comfortably live here.
The housing cost squeeze hits hardest at low-wage blue collar and service workers. They have just $11,500 and $26,400 left over after paying for housing compared to knowledge, professional and creative workers who have $45,000 left over, according to calculations by my research team.
Home ownership is out of reach for entire classes and generations of Torontonians. Currently, there are 245,605 renter households in Toronto facing affordability issues, and more than 90,000 households on the affordable housing wait list.
This disturbing situation will only get worse if we continue on the same path. Families are moving out of Toronto and middle-class parents who, decades ago, bought homes at a fraction of the cost of their million dollar-plus present-day valuations have adult children living at home because they can’t afford housing close to their jobs.
Toronto’s economic success gives it the economic capacity to address its housing problem. It means building more housing, building denser neighbourhoods, building more affordable housing, especially around transit. All of these are things we can do, if we have the political vision and will.
And it can be done in a fiscally prudent way:
The city has a huge asset in the large amount of land it already owns that can be quickly and inexpensively repurposed for the construction of tens of thousands of new affordable rental housing.
Federal rental financing policies can be changed to end subsidizing the construction of luxury rentals in favour of units the middle-class can afford.
Funds from the National Housing Strategy can be dedicated to the construction of housing that remains affordable in perpetuity, instead of setting in motion a countdown to an affordabili- ty cliff after 25 years.
These are concrete actions that are readily within Toronto’s grasp and would not require significant new funding sources.
Having a realistic plan to dramatically increase housing affordability in all corners of Toronto must be table stakes for candidates in Toronto’s mayoral election.
Even the aspirational housing targets set by our current leaders are woefully inadequate and will keep affordability out of the reach of tens of thousands of Torontonians. This will take more than tinkering at the edges, and certainly more than politicians merely making noise about change; this challenge requires new ideas, bold action and leadership.
We cannot afford to ignore our housing crisis and deepening new urban crisis it brings. For our city to grow and prosper and for our residents to share in that prosperity, all must have access to quality, affordable housing.
Like access to health care and a good education, it is nothing less than a basic human right.
With the prosperity our city is generating, we have the means and capacity to address this crisis. What we need are leaders with the political will to take it on and solve it. Nothing less than the future success of our city and the future well-being of all Torontonians is at stake.