On heritage listings
Last week, Housing Matters made a deputation for the Toronto and East York Community Council on the inclusion to the City of Toronto Heritage Register of 21 properties on Broadview Avenue, and another 24 properties on College Street.
We took some flack following the deputation from Councillor Cressy who thought that our goal in making the deputation was to establish a false choice between heritage preservation and new housing supply. It wasn’t.
As we stated explicitly in our deputation, we believe that “it is important to balance the City’s past with its current needs” and “encourage [TEYCC] to consider very carefully the impact on affordability of preserving an ever-growing number of properties as being off-limits to meaningful redevelopment and intensification.”
“Whether we like it or not, heritage preservation is often used as a NIMBY tactic, advocated for by established homeowners clinging to the status quo.”
This is a similar point to that made by Shawn Micallef in his Toronto Star piece, When is it heritage and when is it hiding from the city’s evolution and growth?
In any case, we’ve just gotten video of the deputation, viewable below along with a copy of our speech.
Good morning.
My name is Chris Spoke and I’m a member of Housing Matters.
We are a group of Torontonians who advocate for increased housing supply to address the housing availability and affordability crisis that is pricing many renters, young people, and middle class families out of our city.
We take very seriously the common sense notion that, if we want more people to have housing in Toronto, we’re going to need to build more housing.
I appreciate being granted the opportunity today to address the inclusion to the City of Toronto Heritage Register of 21 properties on Broadview Avenue, and another 24 properties on College Street.
With such a large number of properties, I will not comment on the heritage value of any individual property, though I do think that we should be mindful of the necessarily subjective nature of these judgments.
Instead, I would like to make a statement in principle about how this process undermines housing availability and affordability in Toronto.
When a property is added to the register, it makes it more difficult to maximize the use of its land, including through the modernization of older buildings to suit current needs. It makes it more difficult to create new housing, which we believe is a big problem in a city with a 1.1% rental vacancy rate.
The additional layer of review for a development application adds time and cost, both of which are ultimately borne by buyers and tenants. The uncertainty and risk can also act to render development projects unfeasible at the margin.
As the average price across all housing types now exceeds $700,000, it is imperative that we maximize the opportunities to build housing throughout the city, especially in transit-accessible neighbourhoods.
The properties listed on College Street and Broadview Avenue are all immediately accessible by bus or streetcar. College Street is classified as a major arterial, and Broadview Avenue as a minor arterial, and both are considered “Avenues” in the City’s Official Plan Urban Structure Map.
We believe that the focus here should be on encouraging new mixed-use development.
While it is important to balance the City’s past with its current needs, we encourage you to consider very carefully the impact on affordability of preserving an ever-growing number of properties as being off-limits to meaningful redevelopment and intensification.
Whether we like it or not, heritage preservation is often used as a NIMBY tactic, advocated for by established homeowners clinging to the status quo.
We believe that Toronto is a fantastic city, and that we should be looking forward to opportunities to welcome current and future residents into its vibrant neighbourhoods, not looking backwards and sacrificing our dynamism in the interest of preserving beams, bricks, and mortar.
