Brian Beard Jim Watson Mark Sutcliffe It’s almost like keeping property taxes artificially low to placate your base has consequences

PABs for the win

🙄 The Etobicoke neighbourhoods who are deeply concerned about sewer capacity always look like this:

The federal gov't has decided to withhold $357M in affordable housing funding from Ontario due to the province's failure to meet agreed-upon housing targets. Instead, the funds will go directly to City service managers responsible for housing issues.
theglobeandmail.com/canada/article…

Seven months (!) of writing in one tweet: Terror is always wrong. Revenge is not a strategy. A child is a child is a child. Release all hostages now. Let the aid flow. Neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians are leaving. Without hope for a shared future, this does not end.

Absolutely not surprised by this as a former Oakville resident.

The way the wealthy in this country have co-opted municipal government to steal economic and property rights from the middle class has put our country on the path to serfdom.

I'm mystified by the number of people who believe in exactly one of these statements:

- Carbon pricing reduces carbon emissions
- Development charges reduce housing development

But not both.

By Alex Hemingway of the excellent @policyalternatives - how density bonusing & as of rights approvals can support scaling up nonmarket housing to meet need (35,000/yr in BC alone) The Tyee thetyee.ca/Opinion/2024/0…

There are other options, including progressive property taxes, land taxes, or simply building more intensively in area with existing infrastructure.

Development charges (DCs) seem like a good way to fund infrastructure and services, but they harm Ottawa by making housing less affordable, worsen the housing shortage, and exploit new residents like a pyramid scheme, rather than sharing costs among all community members. (1/3)

“There’s going to have to be a real cultural shift. The backbone has to be the limited profit sector. Not just municipal housing, but alternative forms of ownership, like cooperatives. We absolutely have to build with the right kind of money.” theguardian.com/news/article/2…

Awesome

it's pretty painful to watch what is being proposed at villiers in TO, with what i would consider best practice in places like utrecht's merwede...

density w/ small scale urbanism: small blocks w/ several buildings. largely car-free. abundant and varied tenures of housing.

“we’re not just failing to ensure that currently unhoused people find permanent shelter… we’re seeing more precariously housed people losing theirs. We are, therefore, moving in reverse, with more people entering homelessness than exiting it.” thestar.com/opinion/editor…

A handy reminder that our tax system is still remarkably regressive. Increase capital gains tax rates for all wealth over a set amount, say $2 million. Include principal residences. thestar.com/business/opini…

Yep, Alex Bozikovic is right. This is a truly important site. Let’s have a design competition that maximises affordability & natural assets.

I wish some fellow progressives stopped believing in magic thinking & begging for market crumbs. Direct provision of nonmarket housing is infinitely better. ahuri.edu.au/research/final…