Toronto has a housing crisis. Activists are trying empathy to ease it.
| Toronto
When the community consultation meeting for a development in a northern Toronto neighborhood that includes 1,500 new apartment units 鈥� half of them affordable housing 鈥� got underway, it quickly turned contentious. Angry neighbors complained that the project would mean congested traffic, crowded schools, even increased crime.
But Eric Lombardi, a housing advocate, presented a different sort of response to the city planners.
He told the virtual meeting last October that the project, called Tyndale Green, is exactly the kind of option his generation needs in the middle of Toronto鈥檚 housing crisis 鈥� one that by some measures, is the world鈥檚 worst.
Why We Wrote This
In Toronto, where lack of affordable housing is reaching critical levels, activists are trying to reframe housing development in terms of community and empathy, rather than competition for resources.
Members of the group Mr. Lombardi founded, More Neighbors Toronto, have been trying this tactic at community meetings across the city in an attempt to overcome local resistance and convince homeowners that change in their community does not mean a loss for them, but can be a gain for everyone.
鈥淲hat used to happen before us is the [city and developers] would show up and get yelled at for an hour and a half. We attend and talk about how it鈥檚 a building we could imagine ourselves or our friends living in, people who鈥檝e been really struggling to find housing in the city,鈥� Mr. Lombardi says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about making housing more personal, and not just some big structure that will change the beauty or character of a neighborhood.鈥�
They are just one group among a broader movement of housing advocates and experts trying to change how people, particularly homeowners, think about intergenerational equity on housing. And they are focused on generating more empathy and understanding across one of the biggest fault lines in North American cities today.
World鈥檚 worst bubble risk
If any place needs a solution, it is Canada鈥檚 biggest metropolis.
While interest rate hikes by the Bank of Canada have led to a decline in home prices in Toronto 鈥� as well as other Canadian cities 鈥� in recent months that is expected to continue, average prices remain out of reach. Single-family homes are valued at above $1 million in Greater Toronto, .
It鈥檚 a volatile situation. Earlier this month, the UBS Global Real Estate Bubble Index of 25 major cities as the global city holding the highest housing bubble risk in 2022, with real house price levels in Toronto (and Vancouver) having more than tripled in the last 25 years.
It鈥檚 a problem that spans well beyond the country鈥檚 major cities. Canada faces between housing costs and incomes in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. And it鈥檚 a gap that cuts along generations. Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland called the housing affordability crisis 鈥渋ntergenerational injustice鈥� this spring.
Government officials in Canada increasingly feel that housing affordability has reached a tipping point, much as it has in the United States. The mismatch between housing supply and strong population growth and record-low interest rates during the pandemic amplified demand. The government, provinces, and municipalities have sought to address the issue with myriad programs to boost supply, offer tax credits to first-time buyers, and fix zoning laws. In Toronto, housing was at the heart of municipal elections on Oct. 24.
But for many fighting the crisis, shifting mindsets is just as important as policy. And many see this going beyond fighting NIMBY sentiment.
Housing inflation, says Paul Kershaw, a policy professor at the University of British Columbia, has provided a lot of homeowners 鈥� himself included 鈥� wealth, and much of that wealth has been sheltered, keeping younger generations, even higher-income ones, priced out. He says that notions of who is 鈥渞ich鈥� and who is 鈥減oor鈥� 鈥� and who the victims of ageism are 鈥� require some soul-searching in what he calls a new 鈥渋ntergenerational tension.鈥�
鈥淏ecause [the housing inflation that is] actually harming younger people has been benefiting older members of their family who they love and who love them,鈥� he says.
Society blames foreign buyers, money launderers, NIMBYs, mean-spirited developers, and Airbnb for housing woes, he says. 鈥淏ut the intergenerational tension actually invites us to look in the mirror and say, how might we be implicated? And that is a harder message to get anyone to lean into.鈥�
The charitable think tank Generation Squeeze, which was founded by Dr. Kershaw and focuses on intergenerational inequity, has proposed an annual surtax on homes valued above $1 million, the proceeds of which would go toward affordable housing projects.
鈥淐hange is scary鈥�
Major cities have always been expensive. But housing prices in Toronto have had a ripple effect in surrounding cities and even rural communities. Migration data from the federal government released in January showed 64,000 people leaving Greater Toronto for smaller locales within Ontario from 2020 to 2021. Some of that is pandemic-related, but it began and was led by young families. A Scotiabank report showed in 2021 in four decades.聽
This has implications for those moving away, but also those staying, says Mike Collins-Williams, CEO of West End Home Builders鈥� Association. If residents have to move away, it changes the nature of cities, undermining the idea that so-called stable neighborhoods, primarily where wealthier homeowners reside, are actually stable, he argues. It deprives neighborhoods of service workers and vitality. 鈥淭oronto, the city that鈥檚 supposed to be the entertainment heart, with the bars, the clubs, the music, the place where [younger] people are supposed to be, they鈥檙e leaving.鈥�
Mike Moffatt, an economist and senior director of the Smart Prosperity Institute in Ottawa, Ontario, says one way to change views is to focus on the fact that the status quo isn鈥檛 working for many seniors, either. Many want to downsize, but in their neighborhoods.
鈥淥ne area I think is ripe for looking at is actually how to create more senior-friendly housing,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 think we need to try and get out of the zero-sum frame and try to show how housing reform is good for existing homeowners. I think that鈥檚 the only way we鈥檙e going to get out of this.鈥�
Ontario has said it will need 1.5 million new homes in the next decade. That includes a current shortage and anticipated one, with immigration on pace to hit a record 431,000 new residents in 2022. It is the 鈥渕issing middle,鈥� between single-family homes and high-rise condominiums, that many say is the future.
Colleen Bailey would purchase a home in the 鈥渕issing middle鈥� if she could. But although she says she has sizable savings for her age, homeownership as she nears 40 is still out of reach. As a member of More Neighbors Toronto, she has attended development meetings to voice her support for new housing. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about trying to get people to have a little bit more empathy that it鈥檚 a struggle,鈥� she says.聽
鈥淐hange is scary. So people think if you are comfortable, if you already own a home, then it seems like the safest thing to do is, you know, let鈥檚 just keep things the same,鈥� Ms. Bailey says. 鈥淏ut I think we鈥檙e getting to the point where people realize that not changing is not a choice without any consequences, either.鈥�
