Monday’s headlines

14 comments

1. Re: A Toronto neighbourhood without children – here’s the letter I sent to Adam Vaughn in response to request for feedback on the initiative.

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   My husband and I fell victim to the poor quality and high prices of housing in Toronto. We bought a fixer-upper 13 years ago because that was all we could afford, and have spent the past 13 years fixer-upping. This wasn’t snobbery – the desire to turn the house into a yuppy paradise – it was necessary; everything in the house leaked: the sinks, the toilets, the furnace even! We couldn’t afford to bring in a contractor to gut the place and so in the early years, we did much of the work ourselves, sinking endless time and money into our home. In retrospect, this was a mistake. We incurred much stress and lost valuable family time, all in the name of the “house with backyard” dream.

   But truthfully, a condo would not have been affordable either. The only condos available at the time for the same price as our dilapidated home were tiny one bedroom boxes in the sky with enormous maintenance fees. Which gets me to the point of this email: availability of larger condos is not enough to fill the need for families. There needs to be a good supply of condos that offer minimal supplementary services (no spa or health clubs, etc.) to minimize the condo fees that can raise the cost of the condo well beyond what most families can afford.

   The solution for families is not only in more family-sized condos – the city needs to implement a programme to support families who are trying to renovate existing housing. This is not only about subsidies but about supporting families who often cannot afford to hire a contractor and can be overwhelmed by the bureaucratic hurdles to making even the most minor changes to their homes but can make serious mistakes when trying to circumvent the permits process.

   Housing stock in Toronto is scary – our home had a mixture of copper, knob and tube, and aluminum wiring. We found one disconnected wire wrapped in tape sitting between the walls… Joists in the bathroom floor had been cut and doubled up in strange ways. The ramp to the staircase was built at an odd angle. These are both a safety issue and one of esthetics and you would serve families well by providing programs to address the state of disrepair of much of the housing in the older City of Toronto.

2. That’s awfully presumptuous that much of the housing is scary. Every year, people just like you do those same renovations to more houses, ADM.

3. I’m surprised that the U of T student body voted for anything. The required turnout must have been less than 2%.

4. There may be a lot of hyperbole in what ADM is saying but there is also some truth. Housing in Toronto is prohibitively expensive in Toronto for many lower middle and middle income families… which is why most new immigrants move out of the city when they start getting on their feet financially and are ready to purchase their first home. The trend, based on the space/financial needs of circumstances of new immigrants, was reiterated again in a story that appeared in one of the dailies over the past week or so. Density is good but the huge condo boom that we’ve seen in Toronto over the past few years represents very poor planning as the new units seem to cater only to a very narrow section in the demographic band needed to sustain a vibrant community.

5. On UTSC’s aquatic centre: apparently “23 per cent of students voted, which represents the highest participation level of any student referendum on the campus” (from Inside Toronto).

6. Unfortunately, given the reality of housing market where houses (or condos) are treated as much an investment tool as a place to live, it is probably unrealistic to expect downtown housing to be affordable to lower middle class (I think it is still within the reach of middle class as long as they can live without the expectation of the big square footage and a big yard). Maybe we should look at other possibilities than affordable home ownership in downtown. Smaller, well-serviced centres outside of downtown and affordable rentals (not subsidized, but affordable market rate) come to mind.

7. The thing that always gets me about the “family condo” discussion is the assumption that “families” are 2 parents and 2 kids and need a 3-BR space. It’s such a 1950s assumption of what constitutes a family.

8. I think [downtown housing] is still within the reach of middle class as long as they can live without the expectation of the big square footage and a big yard

   My families income in upper middle class (in the 80th percentile of family income), and despite the fact we don’t own a car and don’t expect huge square footage and a yard the best we can afford is a condo townhouse on the edge of the former City of Toronto or in “up and coming” areas of the city.

9. Paul’s comment regarding what “family” means.

   I don’t recall anybody specifying what constitutes a ‘family’. The issue is living space… specifically housing units that have enough space for households that are larger than 1 or 2 people.

10. @Robert

    I am not sure why that is the case. I am an immigrant arrived in Canada about 10 years ago. My family income might be in the 80 percentile nation-wide, but definitely under that province-wide. 2 years ago I moved from a Scarborough 3-bdrm detached house to a 2-bdrm semi in a nice neighbourhood, good school, steps to subway. I did not get my house as a bargain. My house is old, but in reasonably good condition, no major-renovation required; it is small, especially when we have guests, but seems enough for my family; my lot is like a 6-car driveway in the burb; I don’t have a backyard, but this year I plan to create a tiny one for the kids out of the rear car-port which I don’t use.

    I am now raising two young kids with huge daycare expense; I have a car which I don’t use a lot, but will definitely keep. Overall, I don’t feel squeezed money-wise. Moving into the city core was one of the best decision I ever made. I don’t know what is your situation. If I can do it, I’d expect family with similar income can do it too. Of course something gotta give, you can’t have it all.

11. One factor is what you consider downtown living. I would consider living to be within Bathurst-Bloor-Broadview to be downtown.

    Our income is currently about $100,000. When we where looking for a place recently there where only a few two bedroom plus den condos downtown in our price range ($450,000) and they where all smaller then what we where looking for and had high maintenance fees.

    Median family income for Toronto is $59,671, so lets call that middle class. I don’t think they would have a change to get a place big enough for a small family downtown.

12. Well, I don’t exactly live inside the downtown area, but just on the edge, and I don’t feel that makes a big difference in terms of both life style and cost. Many areas outside that downtown proper is actually more expensive than within (say, Annex vs. South-Annex).

    I got my house under your price point. I think its market value is probably over that now, but not by much. If you don’t have to stick to downtown proper and do not insist on tiptop neighbourhoods, a small semi in reasonable condition should be within your reach.

    One problem is that family income in Toronto is considerably lower than the province median, and much lower than the 905 areas around us. I agree that a family at Toronto’s median will find it very hard to afford anything in the city core. But would not it be great if the city can lure back some of the family from 905?

    Another problem maybe we have different definition of “small”. My house has about 1000 sqft., it might be too small by your standard.

13. Another factor is that the quoted median family income includes all family types, such as singles. The families with children have considerably higher median income.

14. Yu,
    One of the factors in your situation is likely that you had built up considerable equity in the Scarborough home you owned prior to moving downtown (I’m making the assumption you owned it.) That makes a big difference from those buying their first property. If the Scarborough property was further from downtown than you wanted it to be at the time you purchased it, I’d say your situation fits the trend of initially buying something that is further afield as a first property.