Housing

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Jobs and Wages Are the Prerequisites to Housing.

Toronto’s housing crisis won’t be solved by government subsidies.

People need skills, jobs, realistic wages, and well-maintained communities built for working families.

Property taxes, water rates, garbage collection fees, & electricity charges are shelter costs – none of which are related to income.

Real estate prices are inversely related to mortgage interest rates. When mortgage rates go down, real estate prices go up - provided supplies remain constant. See the changes in mortgage interest rates over the past half century on the following graph.

For over 95% of buyers, the cost of housing is determined by the down payment and the mortgage payments made over the amortization period. A low purchase price financed at a high mortgage interest rate requires approximately the same outlay as a high purchase price financed at a low mortgage interest rate. The latter is preferable as the proportion of interest paid is lower.

Jobs and wages are the prerequisites to housing for both renters and home buyers.

Housing affordability is generally measured as spending less than 30% of a household's before-tax income on total shelter costs.

In 2020, average household income in the City of Toronto was $84,000; in the GTA it was $97,000.

Middle-income earners and young families are increasingly squeezed out of Toronto due to, firstly, the lack of well-paying, quality jobs in Toronto and, secondly, the lack of attainable family-friendly housing in family-friendly neighbourhoods. The latter is exacerbated by the absence of construction of single-family, detached, freehold housing and the low turnover in occupancy of such family housing which is compounded by tenant protections.

Sources:

Reduce the size of the Toronto Zoo by 50%.
Re-zone the surplus land to permit 2,000 single-family, detached, freehold, elevated homes with no basements. Private builders to buy lots and build according to the City's design conditions and specifications.
Incorporate unique and attractive structures for solar and wind power such as vertical-axis, Helical or Savonius wind turbine fences and solar wall cladding. Explore innovative design options and green energy features.
This 21st-century project should include snow-melt systems in the public roads, sidewalks, and private driveways, all of which could be permeable pavement, provided it meets long-term durability requirements.

Do not give public money to private organizations (non-profit housing organizations, land trusts, First Nations organizations, etc.) for the acquisition and renovation of private housing.

MURA is a gross misappropriation of public money that should be dedicated to the renovation and maintenance of City-owned buildings and public infrastructure for the benefit of the public at large.

NOTE: 1. The federal government is fundraising in the private sector to renovate 24 Sussex Drive.

2. There are financial institutions that provide financing for the acquisition & renovation of real estate.

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