Pamela Blais

Thank you for your leadership on this. It will make a difference in getting gentle density housing built within existing neighbourhoods, offering livable units and wider choices.

This is a good idea. Esp if DCs are made to more accurately reflect actual inf costs variations by location and type, it could provide a clearer price signal & encourage more efficient types of development (ie denser, infill), as I argued in my book, back in the day.

Good news! On @CllrJamaalMyers excellent motion to the next Council meeting to exempt up 4 units in a 6plex from DCs and park levies, @MayorOliviaChow has upped the ante to exempt all six units. secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda… This is what I argued for in a submission on the item.

“After tenants agreed to the landlord’s offer in principle, the landlord added the ‘non-disparagement’ clause, Sameer Beyan said.” New from @TorontoStar, on why negotiations to resolve our dispute with landlords Starlight and PSP Investments broke down thestar.com/news/gta/tenan…

Important info. Personally I don’t see any issue with CMHC support for rental somehow crowding out home ownership. For decades CMHC prgrms were almost entirely focused on ownership units, eg. NHA MBS, now it has swung to rental. Ideally, programs should be tenure-neutral.

It’s always interesting that conservatives e.g. @fordnation are so set against introducing price signals and market rationality when it comes to road usage… (and in fact want to remove existing tolls). You’d think they’d love tolls! Could solve highway congestion tomorrow

The City providing its own proof that building regulations need to be changed.

Especially given 6plex has DCs and 4plex has no DCs People will just keep doing 4plex

Updated map of multiplex proposals in the City of Toronto after June 25th council meeting. We'll be talking about this at length at our upcoming event: eventbrite.ca/e/unpacking-mu…

Devastating scenes near First Street tonight as an iconic piece of Manchester’s history, The Hotspur Press building, has gone up in flames. Built on Gloucester Street by the banks of the River Medlock, it was thought to be Manchester’s oldest surviving mill. Originally a cotton…

Starlight, is that you? Almost seems like there’s a common business model operating across acquired properties…….@renovictions @tparktenants

These threads by @dsherwoodb, live-tweeting a Landlord & Tenant Board hearing in which Starlight/PSP Invstmt seek to group-evict 100 rent strikers in Thorncliffe, are a real window on what it’s like to live day-to-day in a financialized rental building with “value-add potential”.

Revealing play-by-play of hearing in which Starlight and PSP Investments aim to group-evict 100 rent strikers in Thorncliffe Park.

City reports now available. On tweaks to multiplex by-law: secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda… On changes to permit 5 and 6-plexes: secure.toronto.ca/council/agenda…

Nice review by ⁦@JohnLorinc⁩ of upcoming proposed changes to Toronto’s zoning by-laws regarding multiplexes. Toronto wrangles with a simple question: What is a multiplex? theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/ar…

What is clear is that the City of Toronto needs to undertake a X-departmental, comprehensive review of all policies, approvals processes, requirements, fees, etc. EHON is helpful, but in the face of the many other obstacles, piecemeal + insufficient to get results at scale.

I repeat: It’s not the office, it’s the commute.

This picture is absolutely insane. Spitalfields, 41 years ago in 1984. Now some of the more expensive real estate…anywhere. Worth reflecting on when people say London has ‘collapsed’.