Mr. Robertson, tell Toronto a deal is a deal
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The housing crisis is screwing generations of Canadians. Toronto City council is enabling it.
The feds need to call out Toronto’s bad faith negotiations and withdraw the promised funds.
(The feds also need to change tax laws to definancialize housing, enforce money laundering laws, build affordable housing, etc - but I digress)
In 2023, Toronto city council voted in support of an agreement signed with Ottawa, pledging a variety of policy changes that included allowing buildings with six housing units on a single lot anywhere in the city. Federal money allocated from the Housing Accelerator Fund started to flow in return and then, during a debate last month, a lot of councillors got cold feet.
Instead of voting to allow the sixplexes they had pledged to permit everywhere, council watered down the proposal. In fact, they took a fire hose to it. These buildings will be allowed in only nine wards, which together make up less than one-quarter of the city’s area. Councillors for the other 16 wards can opt in later, as if they are mayors of their own area.
Globe editorial: Mr. Robertson, tell Toronto a deal is a deal
Since Toronto reneged on its sixplex agreement, Ottawa should follow through with pulling federal housing funds
The Globe and Mail (www.theglobeandmail.com)