A remedy to Toronto’s housing crisis
In the winter of 2021 amid a housing and homelessness crisis, a group of residents in Toronto’s East York neighbourhood came together to oppose the construction of more than 50 modular homes for people exiting homelessness. One of these residents claimed, in a widely shared news interview, that the supportive homes should not be built because the proposed site, on a parking lot, was “the heart of the community.”
Fast-forward and that modular housing is up and running. Today, not only is it home to dozens of seniors; despite the loss of the apparently beloved parking lot, the “heart” of the community is beating still.
This was a rare housing success story in Toronto, a city in which the real estate market is impossibly expensive, rent is steep, homelessness is climbing, and residents groups regularly oppose the creation of new housing.
Yet the story that unfolded in East York is one we hope repeats itself all over Toronto and in every shape and size, be it supportive housing on a parking lot, rental units in a skyscraper, or multiplexes on a quiet street.
This month, we learned that more good news is likely in store thanks to the release of a proposal by the city’s chief planner Gregg Lintern. The proposal is a set of recommendations calling for the authorization of multiplex housing — duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes — on lowrise residential streets.
Otherwise known as “the missing middle,” this type of housing is desperately needed in Toronto where single-family homes are king, even though few young people can afford them.
Consider the fact, according to the Star’s Victoria Gibson and Nathan Pilla, that “in the five years between the last two national censuses, the city’s population grew by more than 62,000 people.” Yet that growth is “clustered in neighbourhoods that are already running out of space, with little choice but to reach up to add more homes.”
Changing Toronto’s housing landscape
The chief planner’s recommendations could help to even things out across the city and closer to the ground. According to the report, multiplexes provide “a housing option that can fit the needs of families, large households, and people who would prefer living in ground-related housing. It can also provide units for people to age in place in their neighbourhoods, to create housing for a family member, or to create additional units to help contribute to mortgage costs.”
As we’ve argued previously, it will take all three levels of government working together consistently to solve the housing and homelessness crisis in Toronto. However, if heeded by city council in the near future, the chief planner’s recommendations have the potential to drastically change Toronto’s housing landscape for the better.
We urge Toronto city council and whomever emerges victorious in the city’s mayoral byelection in June to follow through with these recommendations wholeheartedly: to write a new chapter in Toronto history in which renting or owning an affordable home is not a pipe dream.
“Too little housing”
But at the same time, we urge Torontonians to have an open mind. It is unlikely that many of us would (like the East York resident above) identify a parking lot as the “heart” of our community. But research shows that most Torontonians do have a tendency to say “Not in My Backyard.”
According to recent polling from Mainstreet Research, 47 per cent of Torontonians said they believe the city is building “too little housing.” Yet a whopping 73 per cent said they think the city should “build less where I live.”
It appears that we want the housing crisis to go away but we are reluctant to be a part of the solution. We want vulnerable people living in poverty to find housing but in many cases, we’d prefer that housing exist across town, not around the corner. And too many who already rent or own are ready to deny others, often young families, the same opportunity.
Our elected officials share this bent for cognitive dissonance likely because they want to be re-elected. It’s not uncommon to observe Toronto councillors speak of the need for affordable housing while placating residents in their own wards who oppose new growth.
If we truly want the status quo to change, this cognitive dissonance must end. A plea to Toronto councillors: match your actions to your words. A plea to residents: be a part of the housing solution.
It appears that we want the housing crisis to go away but we are reluctant to be a part of the solution. We want vulnerable people living in poverty to find housing but in many cases, we’d prefer that housing exist across town