Anthony Marcusa –
In an effort to accelerate construction amid a housing crisis, the province is planning to allow taller and denser buildings around Toronto transit hubs.
According to Mayor Olivia Chow and Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Rob Flack, the plan will enable 1.5 million homes to be built in the next 25 years around 120 transit stations, including Ontario Line subway stations being built in Corktown and Moss Park.
“Toronto needs more affordable housing,” said Chow. “We are tackling the housing crisis by cutting red tape to build more homes near transit to support our city’s growth. By building near transit stations, we are providing new residents with convenient and reliable transit options – ultimately getting drivers off the road, reducing gridlock and getting Toronto moving.”
Prentiss Dantzler, an associate sociology professor at the University of Toronto, is concerned about the effect of displacement by new buildings.
“We see rates of eviction filings increase as soon as developments start,” he said. “Nearby landlords are speeding up their eviction filings, looking to take advantage of future rents these developments bring. There’s a lot of negative impacts in the short term in pursuit of long-term goals.”
Dantzler also notes that landlords may undertake renovations or sell off parcels of land in order to maximize financial returns. Instead of providing more housing to individuals, new developments can cost some people their homes.
“These initiatives leave people at risk, including lower income and racialized persons,” Dantzler, founder of the Housing Justice Lab at U of T, told the bridge. Stronger tenant protections and social services are needed to make the process more equitable, he said.
David Roberts, director of U of T’s Urban Studies Program, believes the plan does offer value.
“It spreads the densification out in a different way than we had for the last ten or 15 years,” he told the bridge. “Densification has typically taken place downtown (and) along Yonge Street, and this spreads it out to other places, which I think is needed.”
However, Roberts notes the plan fails to address key financial issues.
“What doesn’t change is the economic situation,” he said. “It’s not a huge infusion of cash into the building sector,” he said. “It doesn’t address a lot of the other factors driving up costs; it doesn’t address land costs, or material costs. It only addresses some of the planning costs.”
“If we’re not doing more to protect affordable housing, just adding more supply isn’t going to solve it,” he said.
“I don’t think we can build our way out of the housing crisis.”
Developments at transit hubs, according to the plan, will be subject to inclusionary zoning, requiring five per cent of the total units or total gross footage to be affordable housing. But Roberts says this stipulation won’t have a huge impact.
“There are a lot of ways to get out of that,” he said. “It’s nice that the city and province made this joint announcement, but they have different definitions of ‘affordable’. The devil is in the details.”
The plan comes following an admission by Minister Flack that new home construction in Ontario is at a “standstill.” A recent Royal Bank of Canada report points to several factors, including a trade war, reduced immigration targets, interest rates and the rising cost of living.
“Significant affordability challenges persist, particularly in high-priced markets like Ontario and B.C,” wrote RBC assistant chief economist Robert Hogue. “Despite some relief, the share of household income required to cover ownership costs will remain well above pre-pandemic levels, limiting the pace of recovery [of the housing market].”
The report said Ontario’s lag in construction was at “the root of the housing crisis,” but Dantzler disagrees. “We keep building houses that are way too expensive and don’t fit people.”
