4 ms·

I don't think her plan for Toronto would apply to a small town. A detached home anywhere near the core starts at about $1.3M, so "affordable" housing is relativ

I don't think her plan for Toronto would apply to a small town. A detached home anywhere near the core starts at about $1.3M, so "affordable" housing is relative. Adding 100k units will make the entire market more affordable, the challenge is where to put them. As the former chief planner, she's highly qualified to tackle this; she has been pushing plans for adding density in smart ways for years.

DoreenMichele 8y ago
I hope you are right that she's highly qualified. I've certainly enjoyed some of her tweets on city design type stuff. I sometimes talk to professional planners. One recently said to me that affordable housing was a tough nut to crack. This part of where I get the idea that most people have no idea how to solve it. As I have the time and energy, I'm trying to do my own research. I still hope to find viable answers.
- Agustus 8y ago
  Affordable housing is easy, increase the amount of available housing to allow for an increase in supply to drive down demand. If you do not increase available housing because of NIMBYISM, landlords wanting to keep supply limited, ridiculous rules for supply creation (San Francisco's rules and regulations for permit application are a great example), historic districts (forcing creators to adhere to maintain old and outdated buildings that require significant investment to meet codes), and politicians who would like to avoid having to figure out a new voter base, then you will never see houses that make financial sense to maintain. As a thought experiment, how many more people could live in San Francisco city limits if you added three stories to the current limit (which is three I believe). You double the available supply, reduce / address demand and increase the opportunity for transit usage. However, if you proposed this idea, you do not have to worry about re election. The politicians will say it is difficult, then use public funds to add 1,000 affordable homes, which is a drop in the bucket to addressing the supply issue. Do note, that when the affordable housing allotted to the skyscraper in New York City, the affordable housing facilities were given out by the city and conveniently, if I recall, a city counselor's relative got one of the homes.

DoreenMichele 8y ago

I hope you are right that she's highly qualified. I've certainly enjoyed some of her tweets on city design type stuff. I sometimes talk to professional planners. One recently said to me that affordable housing was a tough nut to crack. This part of where I get the idea that most people have no idea how to solve it. As I have the time and energy, I'm trying to do my own research. I still hope to find viable answers.

Agustus 8y ago
Affordable housing is easy, increase the amount of available housing to allow for an increase in supply to drive down demand. If you do not increase available housing because of NIMBYISM, landlords wanting to keep supply limited, ridiculous rules for supply creation (San Francisco's rules and regulations for permit application are a great example), historic districts (forcing creators to adhere to maintain old and outdated buildings that require significant investment to meet codes), and politicians who would like to avoid having to figure out a new voter base, then you will never see houses that make financial sense to maintain. As a thought experiment, how many more people could live in San Francisco city limits if you added three stories to the current limit (which is three I believe). You double the available supply, reduce / address demand and increase the opportunity for transit usage. However, if you proposed this idea, you do not have to worry about re election. The politicians will say it is difficult, then use public funds to add 1,000 affordable homes, which is a drop in the bucket to addressing the supply issue. Do note, that when the affordable housing allotted to the skyscraper in New York City, the affordable housing facilities were given out by the city and conveniently, if I recall, a city counselor's relative got one of the homes.