A matter of principle
As Housing Matters continues to grow as a community of urbanists, activists, and others working toward a growing, dynamic, and affordable Toronto, we thought that it might now be a good time to put some of our guiding principles in writing.
The following is a list of those principles, largely inspired by other Yes In My Backyard (YIMBY) organizations throughout North America and Europe, and refined through intensive and productive debate among our Board of Directors and Steering Committee.
- Housing in Toronto should be more affordable.
Everyone should be able to afford a decent home in Toronto. There will always be a segment of the population that requires some subsidy (we like vouchers) but the vast majority of Torontonians should be much better served by market rate housing. - Housing in Toronto could be more affordable.
Our current crisis is needless and unacceptable. Unaffordable housing is ultimately a failure of policy, and of our elected representatives and unelected bureaucrats by extension. - There are three ways to ensure housing affordability in the long run: by increasing supply, reducing demand, or setting price controls. Of these three, increasing supply is the path that would benefit the most people.
- Land use rules that constrain housing supply are the primary drivers of our affordability crisis and must be reformed to allow for more housing in more neighbourhoods.
- No-one should be excluded from job opportunities because they can not afford to live within a reasonable commuting distance.
We must recognize the harm being done by unaffordable housing to the young and poor in particular, as they continue to be priced out of the neighbourhoods that would best serve them in terms of employment and other opportunity.
These principles taken as a whole inform our mission and our vision for the city.
They will also inform the activities we engage in as we scale-up to take on the monumental challenge of effectively advocating for affordable housing and working to build a Toronto welcoming of all people, regardless of age or economic status.
