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Planning for Missing Middle Housing in Toronto's Yellowbelt

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Planning for Missing Middle Housing in Toronto's Yellowbelt Filling in the Housing Gaps: Planning for Missing Middle Housing in Toronto’s Yellowbelt By Aria Popal Supervised by Dr. Luisa Sotomayor A Major Paper submitted to the Faculty of Environmental Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Environmental Studies York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada July 31st, 2020 i ABSTRACT The City of Toronto is experiencing a well-known housing affordability crisis. As the fastest growing city in North America with the highest construction activity, expensive condominium developments in the City’s designated areas for growth, such as the downtown core, are dominating the housing market as the leading type of supply. On the other hand, Toronto prides itself upon being a city of neighbourhoods, by alluding to the other form of supply in the city as single-family homes or single detached dwellings. To contend with the convolutions of the housing market, a discourse of the Missing Middle emerged in the 2010s as a new angle from which to examine the housing affordability crisis in North American cities. The Missing Middle is a multifaceted term that generally refers to a need for more housing typologies that are in scale with single-family homes but are limited to four units in height; to be added as gentle or medium density to designated single-family neighbourhoods. I assess the Missing Middle as an approach, a strategy, and a discourse to moderate the housing crisis. By conducting interviews with interested city-builders, community members and vocal advocates for the development of Missing Middle housing in Toronto, this paper presents different views and perspectives on the limits and opportunities that such approach may provide. My findings indicate that the Missing Middle offers an opportunity to diversify the housing stock by adding housing supply options to the market ranging in size, tenure and income. I dispel promises of affordability by situating a literature review from the inception of initial housing policy in Ontario, to the patterns we see today, as moving beyond market forces, and more so as a consequence of the policies adopted over the past three decades. I leave the reader with prospects of considering the Missing Middle through the examination of a neighbourhood case study that can serve as a guide for the City of Toronto’s Missing Middle pilot study initiated in 2019. To expand the perspective beyond a sole solution, I also propose a number of structural changes to the planning system vis-à-vis the housing crisis that will be needed to fill in the housing gaps. ii FOREWORD This Major Paper is a culmination of the Plan of Study (POS)’s Area of Concentration completed throughout my two-year experience at the Faculty of Environmental Studies’ Masters Planning program, with a specialization in Urban and Regional planning. My Plan of Study reconciles the relationship between land-use planning, the built environment and urban health to plan for healthy cities. As the MES program is interdisciplinary, I have engaged with various courses, theories, and scholars to expand my knowledge of the history of urban planning in shaping the way cities function today. To broaden my understanding of the way planning extends beyond Toronto’s corridors, I participated in the Critical Planning Workshop as part of the final Major Collaborative Research Initiative (MCRI), “Global Suburbanisms: Governance, Land and Infrastructure in the 21s Century” (2010-19), to New York City as part of my experiential education in a boots on the ground method. Lastly, I undertook various experiential learning opportunities outside of the academic realm, to apply my learnings and acquire professional experience. To consolidate my POS, I chose a unique path by focusing my research upon Missing Middle housing as an extension of the housing affordability crisis in Toronto. Access to adequate and affordable housing is a social determinant of health in Canada because finding housing suitable to ones’ needs, is an underlying factor to well-being. In coming to this conclusion, I have studied the intersection between public health and planning in finding that the two disciplines should be regarded as cross-disciplinary, since principles guiding both subjects foster vibrant built environments that comply with land-use planning law, while, promoting active lifestyles and protecting urban health. To offer a specific example informing my findings, my POS draws attention to zoning as an initial means of banning noxious uses, ensuring safety and limiting exposure to environmental toxins and degradation. My research builds on this assumption by exposing how today, in Toronto’s Yellowbelt in particular, zoning has been utilized as a tool of exclusion to separate land use designations, which has strengthened segregation by race and class; exclusionary zoning. Further emphasis is made upon demonstrating how land-use planning policies are complacent in the process. To summarize, my POS served as the foundation for my MES fulfillment, by inspiring a topic that highlights how housing as a built environment, can utilize land-use planning law to update policies and zoning to allow Missing Middle housing. My research speaks to my POS by calling for aspects of the planning process like urban design to construct Missing Middle projects with sustainable development. The housing itself, can offer access to important community infrastructure, healthy food options, and open and green space, which is in abundance in the designated Neighbourhoods of Toronto. Ultimately housing production will allow people to transition away from car dependency and to embrace a lifestyle centered upon walkability and supportive transit instead. The development of Missing Middle housing is a way of planning for healthy cities – a healthier City of Toronto. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I would like to extend my utmost gratitude to my Supervisor Dr. Luisa Sotomayor. I appreciate your kindness, patience and guidance throughout this tiring but rewarding process. Thank you for responding to my anxiety-ridden emails sent at 3 in the morning, for picking up my Zoom calls and for inspiring me both as a mentor but also as a strong and intelligent woman in academia. Second, I want to acknowledge each and every one of my interview participants for taking the time out of their busy schedules to meet me whether in offices, over the phone, or in coffee shops. Third, I would like to sincerely thank my parents for supporting me despite my complaints and my absence as the middle child for over a year and to my siblings, who helped me in their own unique ways – lots of UberEATS and forced proofreading. Fourth, thank you to my friends for accompanying me to countless Starbucks dates, for encouraging me and forgiving me for not being as responsive to messages and texts. Finally, I would like to especially thank SR, VP2, and KSLM – each of you know your role in helping me write this paper. It goes without saying, but this research wouldn’t have been complete without any of you. ♡ iv Table of Contents ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................ii FOREWORD ............................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................. iv LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... viii LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................................... ix Introduction ................................................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 1 – Research Methods .................................................................................................4 1. Analysis of Written Media..................................................................................................... 4 2. Document Review and Policy Analysis ............................................................................. 4 3. Semi-Structured Interviews .................................................................................................. 5 4. Case Study .............................................................................................................................. 8 CHAPTER 2 – History of Housing Policy in Toronto: From Early Neoliberalism to Current Neighbourhood Policies ............................................................................................................10 Canadian Housing Policy (1920-1994) ...................................................................................... 10 Enter the Suburbs ........................................................................................................................ 11 Neoliberalism and the Era of Austerity Politics...................................................................... 15 Post-Amalgamation – New Vision for the City of Toronto.................................................... 17 1) Reinvestment Areas .......................................................................................................................... 19 2) Other Parts of the City Will Change Very Little ............................................................................ 20
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