This should not take more than 30 seconds in a Mark Carney cabinet to decide. If a city or province does not honour a signed agreement, well, freeze the funds. Give them 6 months to get back in compliance and after that funds will be allocated to other cities or provinces. This applies to housing, healthcare or anything else where the federal government enters into an agreement with a lower level of government.
Also, in the current political climate it is unlikely that Carney would lose seats by taking on a city that it is ignoring its obligations to lower housing prices. Carney has a ton of political capital at the moment and he is not scared of an election. Bring it on.
Now, in order to avoid being perceived as vindictive, it is important that other cities are treated the same. I suspect Toronto is not the only city that is not in compliance with agreements that it has signed. Call a big press conference and list all the cities that are in breach of their agreements. Explain the consequences and repeat every three months.
Sigh ... the lack of Affordable housing issue is GLOBAL! There are at least 10 contributing factors and yes, linking most factors is Politics - where Policy is determined, rules written and process determined - resulting in economic practices. So, rather than point a finger of blame, you'll need both hands pointing in multiple directions. Municipal planning is a housing blocker; DCC's are a housing blocker; short-term rentals are a housing blocker; NIMBYs are a housing blocker; REITS & PE are greedy housing blockers; Financial lenders are out-of-touch and a blocker; there is a lack of construction workers - a housing blocker; but construction productivity has flat-lined for decades ... however, IF we really wish to solve this issue it's possible by working TOGETHER - and given it's a global issue, there is already a tremendous amount of collaboration globally. The commitment by the Federal government to address this issue is a strong commitment to solutions - especially given the biggest government influence is municipal & provincial. But $$ funding has influence ...
Evan, I agree with some of what you write and disagree with other things. All as it should be; you know, diversity of opinion and all of that thingy.
On this, however, I am absolutely in agreement. The reason is quite simple: when you enter into an agreement you should keep your commitments. Period.
You have buyers' remorse? Tough! If you really, really don't want to follow through on your commitments approach the other side (i.e. the feds in this case) and ask if, pretty please, they would let you out of the agreement. And return all monies received. Every damned penny. Plus any penalties that might, in the reasonable (and exclusive) view of that other side be appropriate. And return those monies and any other related benefits received immediately; not tomorrow; not next month; immediately. No other way.
The problem is high immigration - Toronto has 740,000 units in the pipeline, enough for over 30 years at 23k units per year, which is 50% of GTA housing starts.
The problem is not Toronto - it is in the 905, maybe, but mainly with high immigration which is entirely the blame of the party in power since 2015.
The party in power since 2015 promised 7 months ago to lower immigration numbers, to help with the problems they caused as you accurately pointed out. Result: over 800,000 newcomers to Canada in the first 3 months, which on an annual basis means an additional 3,200,000 people a year. Half of these people will land in the GTA where any attempt to build and develop is met with NIMBY and cries of GREEN BELT GREEN BELT!!! More people to a northern hemisphere country committed to net zero, and restricting energy development. Fun times ahead! Elbows up!
FAFO, Evan. The Housing Accelerator Fund was never going to work, for the reasons you are only now noticing. Liberals don't believe in anything, except staying in power. So, cities took the Fund's federal tax dollars, fully knowing that the liberals would not enforce their promises to allow even the most pathetically minor tidbits of more apartments. And now we have the housing crisis, incarnated as Gregor Robertson, as Housing Minister. Is he going to dirty his pretty face by fighting with the cities? He's a multimillionaire landlord.
If the Libs wanted cities to allow more housing, they would have passed federal legislation granting enforceable rights for landowners to build apartments. They would have attached those rights to existing funding streams, like transportation, not some bullshit slushfund. If cities didn't like the deal, they could decline the funding. But that sounds mean! So, you thought, wrongly, that you'd cleverly get around the messiness of enforcement by conditioning only optional, bonus funds. Guess it didn't work out. So sad!
I don't know what you expected, TBH. Carney's cabinet is a reboot of Trudeau's cabinet except worse, in that he replaced the fat pothead podcaster with Gregor Robertson. We get the same results because we elected the same people.
I anticipate that, once Carney gets railed by the Libs on Toronto's city council, you'll pivot to the line that housing is not federal jurisdiction, just like Justin did. Not that anyone really cares about jurisdication, but it is federal jurisdiction to make sure that federal taxes are well-spent. Suppose the federal government pays for a highway and a city prevents appartment construction around that highway. Less construction means fewer residents, means fewer people use the highway the federal government paid for. So, in that case, the cities would be wasting the federal investment in the highway. The federal government would inarguably be within its jurisdiction to cut off funding to that highway until the city relented on its blockade of new appartment construction .
We all love Toronto but the rest of Canada does not want to keep paying for their poor municipal management. Take care of your own mess, Toronto! Show us you really are as great as you keep telling us.
There is a shameful lack of density in Toronto outside of the core, and its disgraceful that city council is still caving to NIMBY nonsense. There is an ongoing housing shortage in this country, and actions like this are the reason why.
Most in the Province share your frustrations on this matter as well as just about every other thing that the city touches, imagine working in extreme heat lifeguarding a swimming pool and being unable to swap out and jump in as an alternative to shutting down the pool, then blaming provincial health and safety regulations for your stupidity. The issues you raise together with virtually every other stupid decision will continue to occur so long as the motivating force behind all decisions is the individuals re-election. Institute term limits at every level of government and you may attract some intelligent individuals to serve a term and then fuck off
This should not take more than 30 seconds in a Mark Carney cabinet to decide. If a city or province does not honour a signed agreement, well, freeze the funds. Give them 6 months to get back in compliance and after that funds will be allocated to other cities or provinces. This applies to housing, healthcare or anything else where the federal government enters into an agreement with a lower level of government.
Also, in the current political climate it is unlikely that Carney would lose seats by taking on a city that it is ignoring its obligations to lower housing prices. Carney has a ton of political capital at the moment and he is not scared of an election. Bring it on.
Now, in order to avoid being perceived as vindictive, it is important that other cities are treated the same. I suspect Toronto is not the only city that is not in compliance with agreements that it has signed. Call a big press conference and list all the cities that are in breach of their agreements. Explain the consequences and repeat every three months.
Sigh ... the lack of Affordable housing issue is GLOBAL! There are at least 10 contributing factors and yes, linking most factors is Politics - where Policy is determined, rules written and process determined - resulting in economic practices. So, rather than point a finger of blame, you'll need both hands pointing in multiple directions. Municipal planning is a housing blocker; DCC's are a housing blocker; short-term rentals are a housing blocker; NIMBYs are a housing blocker; REITS & PE are greedy housing blockers; Financial lenders are out-of-touch and a blocker; there is a lack of construction workers - a housing blocker; but construction productivity has flat-lined for decades ... however, IF we really wish to solve this issue it's possible by working TOGETHER - and given it's a global issue, there is already a tremendous amount of collaboration globally. The commitment by the Federal government to address this issue is a strong commitment to solutions - especially given the biggest government influence is municipal & provincial. But $$ funding has influence ...
Evan, I agree with some of what you write and disagree with other things. All as it should be; you know, diversity of opinion and all of that thingy.
On this, however, I am absolutely in agreement. The reason is quite simple: when you enter into an agreement you should keep your commitments. Period.
You have buyers' remorse? Tough! If you really, really don't want to follow through on your commitments approach the other side (i.e. the feds in this case) and ask if, pretty please, they would let you out of the agreement. And return all monies received. Every damned penny. Plus any penalties that might, in the reasonable (and exclusive) view of that other side be appropriate. And return those monies and any other related benefits received immediately; not tomorrow; not next month; immediately. No other way.
This is happening in Edmonton too. To make matters worse, the city’s agreement with the HAF is secret and so far FOI requests have been dismissed
The problem is high immigration - Toronto has 740,000 units in the pipeline, enough for over 30 years at 23k units per year, which is 50% of GTA housing starts.
The problem is not Toronto - it is in the 905, maybe, but mainly with high immigration which is entirely the blame of the party in power since 2015.
The party in power since 2015 promised 7 months ago to lower immigration numbers, to help with the problems they caused as you accurately pointed out. Result: over 800,000 newcomers to Canada in the first 3 months, which on an annual basis means an additional 3,200,000 people a year. Half of these people will land in the GTA where any attempt to build and develop is met with NIMBY and cries of GREEN BELT GREEN BELT!!! More people to a northern hemisphere country committed to net zero, and restricting energy development. Fun times ahead! Elbows up!
FAFO, Evan. The Housing Accelerator Fund was never going to work, for the reasons you are only now noticing. Liberals don't believe in anything, except staying in power. So, cities took the Fund's federal tax dollars, fully knowing that the liberals would not enforce their promises to allow even the most pathetically minor tidbits of more apartments. And now we have the housing crisis, incarnated as Gregor Robertson, as Housing Minister. Is he going to dirty his pretty face by fighting with the cities? He's a multimillionaire landlord.
If the Libs wanted cities to allow more housing, they would have passed federal legislation granting enforceable rights for landowners to build apartments. They would have attached those rights to existing funding streams, like transportation, not some bullshit slushfund. If cities didn't like the deal, they could decline the funding. But that sounds mean! So, you thought, wrongly, that you'd cleverly get around the messiness of enforcement by conditioning only optional, bonus funds. Guess it didn't work out. So sad!
I don't know what you expected, TBH. Carney's cabinet is a reboot of Trudeau's cabinet except worse, in that he replaced the fat pothead podcaster with Gregor Robertson. We get the same results because we elected the same people.
I anticipate that, once Carney gets railed by the Libs on Toronto's city council, you'll pivot to the line that housing is not federal jurisdiction, just like Justin did. Not that anyone really cares about jurisdication, but it is federal jurisdiction to make sure that federal taxes are well-spent. Suppose the federal government pays for a highway and a city prevents appartment construction around that highway. Less construction means fewer residents, means fewer people use the highway the federal government paid for. So, in that case, the cities would be wasting the federal investment in the highway. The federal government would inarguably be within its jurisdiction to cut off funding to that highway until the city relented on its blockade of new appartment construction .
We all love Toronto but the rest of Canada does not want to keep paying for their poor municipal management. Take care of your own mess, Toronto! Show us you really are as great as you keep telling us.
Olive Chow has been Mayor for a thousand years
There is a shameful lack of density in Toronto outside of the core, and its disgraceful that city council is still caving to NIMBY nonsense. There is an ongoing housing shortage in this country, and actions like this are the reason why.
Most in the Province share your frustrations on this matter as well as just about every other thing that the city touches, imagine working in extreme heat lifeguarding a swimming pool and being unable to swap out and jump in as an alternative to shutting down the pool, then blaming provincial health and safety regulations for your stupidity. The issues you raise together with virtually every other stupid decision will continue to occur so long as the motivating force behind all decisions is the individuals re-election. Institute term limits at every level of government and you may attract some intelligent individuals to serve a term and then fuck off