Can Developers Be Part of Communities?

This week we focused on community consultations and toured the Mirvish Village development site as a case study on learning what is the “community” wants. A theme that was present throughout our lecture was the tension between the loss of Honest Ed’s as a cornerstone of the community and the harms that come with displacement contrasted by the benefits that the new development presents. An overview of Westbank’s Mirvish Village website suggests the developer is genuinely trying to build a very nice place to live that meets many of the housing and community needs of Torontonians. The development is entirely purpose-built rentals, a resource in very short supply in Toronto. It offers large multi-bedroom apartments that give families room to grow, businesses that cater to a range of incomes, and public gathering spaces. Westbank conducted extensive community consultations; much more than legally required. The typical cost for the minimum amount of consultations is $50,000. Westbank has spent $1.8 million and consultation still continues at this stage of development. A question that stuck out for me was, why? Why consult this much if they don’t have to? As one of my professors pointed out, Westbank is a private development firm, they have no public accountability mechanism to encourage them to be socially responsible.

After touring the development site, we got a chance to sit down with a variety of people involved in the consultation process. When I asked Westbank’s representative why they chose to consult so much he replied that it is easier and faster to develop with community support than to go through the city to get approval, so doing extensive community consultation was in their interest. He stated that Westbank was very intentional in their choice of purpose-built rental housing because they knew that they wanted to own the property long-term. This struck me as very different than the typical condo developer approach in Toronto when a building is built with small condos to maximize profits before selling the property within a couple of years.

Building on our discussion from the previous week on how to define “community” and who is a part of “communities”, I began to think about Westbank’s approach to development and its relationship with the local community. Since they planned on owning property there for at least 20 years, it was in that community — not just the property — that they were investing in. A successful and prosperous community would lead to a successful and prosperous investment for them. Therefore, they have an interest in building sustainable livable homes for people in the community that they own property in. With this approach, it is like Westbank had become a member of the community, at least as much as a large property developer can. It’s left me wondering how policies and projects might look different if those implementing them understand themselves to be in some way a part of the communities that they are impacting.