Thread by @soc_housing

April 13! Save the date! We are excited to invite you to this upcoming panel discussion on Inclusionary Zoning and how it could potentially work in Toronto. Please register in advance on our Eventbrite page: eventbrite.ca/e/inclusionary…

Thanks to everyone who came to the April instalment in our seminar series. Here are some highlights from the panel discussion with Christine Ono, Jeremy Withers, Steve Pomeroy, & Alejandra Ruiz-Vargas, moderated by Alan Walks.

First, Christine Ono, Senior Planner, @CityPlanTO and engagement lead for IZ. Gave overview City’s draft IZ regulations, introduced Sep ‘20. Staff currently making revisions and updated regs will be voted on by council in a few months. IZ policy expected to take effect Jan 1, '22

Ono: IZ cannot address all of Toronto’s housing needs. Instead, for those “with incomes too high to qualify for social housing but too low to qualify to buy.” Affordable rental and affordable homeownership.

City currently revising ‘definition of affordability’ to be based on income, not average market rents / house prices. Proposed: Monthly shelter cost cannot be more than 30% of income for households earning within 30th-60th percentile (condos) or 20th-60th percentile (rentals).

Ono: Province limits IZ application to Protected Major Transit Station Areas (PMTSAs) – within 500 – 800 metres of a GO Station, subway station, LRT station. City planning to review this after 3 years and maybe expand.

Ono: Current proposed regulations. Applies only in strong and moderate market areas. Applies to buildings >100 units in the downtown and >140 units other areas of city. For condo: 5-10% of GFA set aside for affordable units. For rental: 3-5% of GFA set aside.

Second, @JeremyGWithers, Phd Candidate in @geo_uoft and member of the @soc_housing collective.

Withers: Only 2.5% of new units built in Toronto over the last 20 years have been affordable to poor renters. Many other cities in Europe, the US, and also Canada have implemented IZ policies with much greater set aside rates and with wider geographic application.

Updated report from NBLC shows Toronto market supports set aside rates of at least 20% of condos and rentals downtown and at least 10% in other neighbourhoods. Full report: toronto.ca/wp-content/upl…

Critics from @TorontoACORN @progresstoronto , @ParkdalePPE @planningtoronto @R2HTO argue the set-aside rate for affordable units is too low and should be increased to at least 30% for condominium developments and 20% for rental developments.

Argue IZ should apply to developments w/ 10+ units. Argue IZ locations should be expanded from strong and moderate markets to all markets, in order to deliver units in low-income neighbourhoods in city’s northwest and northeast. More from @planningtoronto: socialplanningtoronto.org/iz_statement

Withers: A strong IZ policy could create 40K affordable rental units simply from buildings currently in development in 2021. Had IZ policy been in place for the last 10 yrs, it could have created 32K affordable rental units – 8x the 4K units actually created during this period.

Third, Steve Pomeroy, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Urban Research Education, Carleton University @CureUrban and Focus Consulting Inc.

Pomeroy: City planners have a lot of power, and therefore responsibility. With a stroke of a pen (changing zoning, permitting a change of use or increase in density), planners send a pricing signal to developers and prescribe value on the land.

Pomeroy: Planners working in the public interest should use the exercise of upzoning land as an opportunity to grow the pie and create a win win. At the same time as developers benefit from increased zoning permissions, the public should benefit from significant affordable units.

2019 report by Steve Pomeroy for @maytree_canada: “Examining the feasibility and options for an inclusionary zoning policy in Toronto.” Full report: maytree.com/publications/e…

Report recommends: 5% set aside rates in low market zones, 20% in medium market zones, 36% in high market zones, assuming units are affordable at rents/prices 60% of average market rent.

Summary of report recommendations to @CityPlanTO planners.

Pomeroy: We should acknowledge this is a highly political exercise – many city councillors depend on developers to fund their re-election campaigns and do not wish to upset them.

Pomeroy: Planners are worried developers will appeal IZ regulations to the province’s Minister of Municipal Affairs & Housing, so do not wish to ask too much for fear the entire policy is scrapped and no IZ is implemented.

Pomeroy: City planners should push for higher set-aside rates and fight for the public interest, prioritizing the many thousands of working-class people who make this city run but can barely afford to live here.

Fourth, Alejandra Ruiz-Vargas, Organizer with @TorontoACORN reviews history of political campaigning and lobbying by ACORN to push the province to introduce IZ legislation.

Ruiz-Vargas: ACORN members want a minimum set-aside rate of 20%-30%, on every development of 60+ units, anywhere in the city, deeply affordable, permanently affordable, rental housing.

Read the full report by @sean_meagher for ACORN (2019): acorncanada.org/resource/inclu…

Ruiz-Vargas demonstrates the pressure felt by Toronto renters by wrapping a noose around her neck. This is not a theoretical issue for her and her neighbours – this is an urgent concern that has real life impacts.

Ruiz-Vargas: How can we win deeply affordable housing? Raise your voice in the community. Keep the pressure on politicians. Campaign at election time, a key opportunity to push for change.

That's a wrap folks! Link to full webinar recording will be posted here shortly.