I guess we're at the part of the business cycle where rental providers are less greedy (said very sarcastically).

unrelated non sequitur

Here is another way to look at the housing disaster

The province just lowered its housing forecast again in the Fall Economic Statement (FES). There will be 17,000 fewer homes by 2028, leaving Ontario 390,000 homes short of its goal. The crisis isn’t slowing. It’s accelerating because all levels of gov still can't act with cohesion or conviction.

I wonder how an ad about Stormy Daniels would land in the White House. If anyone has a few millions to spare please hit me up Trunp feeds off fear, thats what this is all about. He wants Canadians to fear him enough we stop speaking the truth to our American friends and family.

Edmonton's infill election is over, and Edmontonians overwhelmingly voted for a pro-infill council. The predicted backlash never came. Now, it's time to build. And what better place to start than near our LRT stations. Read our op-ed 👇 #yeg #yegcc edmontonjournal.com/opinion/colu...

As rumoured, Fletcher moved for the item on Craven Road garden suites to be deferred. The consultations will continue until morale improves.

My Spidey Senses are tingling that something is going down tomorrow related to housing.

This housing for the elderly piece is not something that gets enough attention. Can't remember where I saw this but anecdotally, many seniors don't actually end up downsizing, and one reason is we don't build housing in the neighbourhoods they *already* have community in.

If we listened to the nimbys we couldnt build: *housing for poor or middle class ppl *housing for the elderly *daycares *schools *power plants & transmission lines *transit I could go on but the real question is how the hell could you have an operational society if you didnt build these things.

Nothing about the current collpase in housing starts is shocking to me For years people warned cities not to cook the golden goose with high DCs and onerous application processes because they needed the eggs not the meat! All the meat is eaten, the feast is over, and now we suffer empty stomaches

Maybe it's just me but I feel like trying to get data from the province has never been worse and the quality of the data you can get is abysmal. How have only half of municipalities submitted their financial information returns (FIR) when they were due back at the end of May but its October.

For years, my colleagues and I warned everyone within ear shot in study after study that the situation with DCs was untenable and unsustainable. Now the city has killed the golden goose despite the warnings. I take no pleasure as a Torontonian in saying this but we're in the FO stage of FAFO.

It's not that boomers are any more nimby than any other generation, it's that they have more time than any other generation to spend on opposing housing. Just look at the nimbys of a new rental project downtown Toronto, or 5 new single-family homes in Aurora - lots of abundance in grey hairs.

*When* the city wins this case, they better be demanding costs. Historically the city avoids doing this, but screw that, I'm so sick of this as a taxpayer. If the case is found frivolous, then we the taxpayers should get every dime back as is the right to ask for in court.

Had to give away my books, comics, and board games today, but I'll never give up my starship collection. That's the sane rationale choice, right?

It's October 1st 2025 and despite being told September 2025 is when we could expect the Eglinton Crosstown to be opened....it isn't Epic fail of all epic fails.

We already have vacant homes taxes in our most chronically unaffordable cities like Toronto and Vancouver, but they've done very little. Why, because "millions of vacant homes" is a bad misinterpretation of census data akin to a hoax. The 🍾 socialist left is not serious about housing.

How long a letter can you write about a 4-page report that recommends against doing anything? Pretty long, it turns out. First, we must have a discussion about what a priority *is*.

my mom took tylenol when she was pregnant, which made me super focused on menswear and now i have a million followers on twitter

Doing some research on developers charges and found this treasure in a news article from 1999. Adjusted for inflation: Vaughan $34,300 Richmond Hill $32,300... Toronto $10,250 Ill let you all compare them to their actuals todays, but its clear that DC inflation has been astronomical.

🌆🏗️ BIG NEWS🚀 I am thrilled to take on a new (volunteer) role as Chair of @build_toronto, the first municipal project of @build_canada We’ll be working with civic & business leaders to push for ideas that improve governance, growth, prosperity, and opportunity in Toronto. (Vid cut to 3M)

Last night, the City hosted a public consultation for Craven Rd (Councillor Paula Fletcher's ward). Staff worked almost a year on a request for bespoke policy, carving out this one road from the City's zoning bylaw permitting as-of-right garden suites, which came out in 2022. 🧵

Sometimes I remember that this started when residents objected to a garden suite at Committee of Adjustment that was refused. That is, the existing rules already prevent the thing that they got upset about, but they want the rules to be more restrictive anyway. storeys.com/toronto-gard...

Young Ontarians are disillusioned by sky high cost-of-living, housing insecurity and rampant unemployment. Doug Ford’s message to them? You’re not looking “hard enough”. For someone with so much contempt for education, he sure lectures a lot. #onpoli globalnews.ca/news/1140573...

I commonly hear people say that “rents never fall, at best they’ll stagnate, landlords would never accept less money than before”. Where does this come from? It’s clearly untrue. Under the right market conditions, prices can absolutely fall.

So what kind of architecture is that precious? The design guidelines tell us, it's basically fetishizing mail-order from the Sears Modern Homes catalog. What am I missing?

The DC situation is getting completely ridiculous. It reminds me of old internal tariffs in ancien regime France. Economically ruinous but relied on to fund regional governments and can't be reformed because that would necessitate raising taxes on the land owning aristocracy.

A timely article from @alexbeheshti.bsky.social at MMI on development charge (DC) differences across Ontario, BC and Alberta. Key chart that attempts to summarize the complex pieces of legislation across these provinces. www.missingmiddleinitiative.ca/p/halving-dc...

My original lede for this was "they caught him ridin' purdy" Man arrested after driving child-size Pink Barbie Keep through Prince George www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

New post: I read Patrick Condon's book, so you don't have to. 1/

This is despite the two reforms looking very similar on paper, so why the difference? Some of it is likely explained by Kelowna making it easy to build multiplexes, while Coquitlam burdened their multiplexes with lots of process and risk. Differences in parking requirements likely also matter.

Happy that the paper by @tomdavidoff.bsky.social @lausterna.bsky.social Tsur Somerville and I on the outcomes of the multiplex upzonings in Kelowna and Coquitlam is out. While the two zoning reforms look similar on paper, we detail how their real world outcomes differ. doi.org/10.1016/j.jh...

A 4-storey, 10 unit apartment building at 877 Ossington, two blocks north of Ossington station, has been held up for 9 months and counting at the committee of adjustment. It has 66 letters of opposition by my count, including from the local councillor. MTSA zoning can't come fast enough.

A new poll shows that infill is NOT a top election issue for Edmontonians. How can that be, when it seems to be in the news, all the time? 🧵 edmontonjournal.com/news/new-pol... #yeg #yegcc

I guess that I also think that, if you're going to complain about slow uptake after a month, it rings a bit hollow when you took an extra 12 months to do your bit and even then did not really do it in most of the City. Feels a bit buck-pass-y.

The mayor saying that the housing reforms that the City committed to but couldn't pass would never actually deliver as much housing as they promised anyway.

This was part of a Toronto-negotiated agreement which promised that various missing middle reforms would deliver 700 net new units by March 2027. Sixplexes themselves were supposed to be passed a year ago. Maybe don't admit that you agreed to something that you never believed in?

I'm extremely disappointed in this "balanced" plan. This policy would kill a ton of housing where it is needed most, with nothing concrete to make up for it. Strap in folks, because I have a lot of thoughts that have been brewing over the last few weeks🧵 #yegcc #yeg

Whenever they do another play about trying to do things in Toronto I hope this lemonade stand is a character.

This is a weird way to look at housing shortages. By this logic, almost every new unit of housing is “complicated” by the fact that the occupants’ likely alternative was an older unit of housing, doubling up with roommates/family, etc., not homelessness. www.latimes.com/california/s...

"Shortages hurt no matter the system" is my favourite line of 2025.

NEW: Looks like CycleToronto won in court. Justice Schabas finds Ontario's law (AND version 2) to remove bike lanes infringe S7 of the Charter and is not saved by S1, in large part because the govt had no evidence to back up its claims.

We need better data to inform public policy decisions for planning & taxes, fees + charges levied on new housing. Proud to support @mikepmoffatt.bsky.social & @alexbeheshti.bsky.social in efforts to obtain data that govt's should have to be transparent www.missingmiddleinitiative.ca/p/feeding-th...

The first ever co-pro between me and @AlexBeheshti on turning to the private sector for data that the public sector should be giving us. #Nerdpowersunite 💪🏼🤓 open.substack.com/pu...

Long thread, but if you're into the nuances of the housing development application process in Ontario, you'll want to read this. Here is the simplest explanation about what's behind Mayor Chow's claim about "80% timeline improvements". 1/15

With rents falling, does this mean landlords are less greedy now? With starts falling, does this mean that developers are setting lower market prices? Its amazing the logic people came up with in the run up of prices, now how's that working out...yea thought so.

"Global Affairs Canada... on June 27 said it was aware of about 55 Canadians detained by ICE." I know Vermont means well but much like Gavin Newsom or the senators from border states, I fear they do not understand the full depth of why we aren't coming. www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/b31d144...

New report! MMI's Jesse Helmer analyzed over 4,000 infill planning decisions to determine what was more or less likely to generate local opposition... and what it can teach us about getting more infill built. Read here: www.missingmiddleini...