There’s some great news in the Toronto Star this week. (Thank you Mike for bringing this to my attention.)
Two councillors – Mary-Margaret McMahon and Ana Bailao – have come out in support of allowing laneway housing in Toronto. Some cities call them detached accessory dwelling units (DADUs).
If you’re new to laneway housing, check out this post and this post (both are 2+ years old). I’ve been on this horse for over a decade.
Because going beyond their small space cool factor, laneway housing has the potential to fundamentally alter the housing supply constraint that I wrote about a few weeks ago – namely the yellowbelt. It’s a way to gently allow for new housing, while at the same time preserving the character of our “stable” neighborhoods.
And frankly, I can’t think of any other way to add new ground related housing at any sort of meaningful scale within the city limits – not unless we’re willing to give up the “stability” of our neighborhoods. So this is it.
If you’re on the same page, I would encourage you to reach out to Councillor McMahon and Bailao and let them know that. There’s also a public workshop scheduled for Monday, December 5th at 7pm at the Evergreen Brick Works (550 Bayview Avenue).
New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo recently signed a bill that will levy heavy fines (up to $7,500) on Airbnb hosts who do not abide by local housing regulations.
Hours after, Airbnb filed a federal lawsuit claiming “irreparable harm.”
However, they also proposed a 5 point plan that they hope will make home-sharing work in New York City and then serve as a framework for new legislation.
Here are Airbnb’s 5 points (summarized by me):
One host, one home: Just like it sounds, this would limit people to renting a single home within the five boroughs.
Require registration: State would require short-term rental hosts to register. Airbnb would be authorized to register people on behalf of the state.
Make home-sharing work for all: Landlords would be able to set specific rules for short-term rentals in their buildings and then secure a portion of the revenue for maintenance and so on. (I would imagine that the same could be done by condo corporations.)
Good neighbor rules: Platforms would be required to have dedicated 24/7 hotlines should any neighbor complaints arise as a result of home-sharing.
Taxes to support affordable housing: Airbnb would collect and remit additional taxes on behalf of hosts, which could then be used for things such as affordable housing.
It’s interesting to think about Airbnb’s evolution. It started out as air mattress rentals on the floor and nobody thought it would ever work as a business. Now it’s a huge business and governments everywhere are trying to figure out an appropriate response. Hopefully a suitable middle ground will be found.
How do you feel about Airbnb’s proposed 5 point plan? With this framework, would you be comfortable with Airbnb in your building? I know that many of you are also hosts (some of you do it for a living), so I would be curious to hear your thoughts.
Yesterday I sent out this tweet, which included this graph:
The chart is from Altus Group and it is a monthly price index of new low-rise vs. high-rise housing in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). I have posted similar charts in the past, but every time this chart gets updated the spread widens and the market looks even crazier.
Some people responded on Twitter by saying that this is clearly an indication of a bubble. I don’t know if that is the case.
But, as I have said many times before, I do believe that it tells a vivid story around supply. Low-rise housing is severely supply constrained in the GTA and high-rise housing is less so. That has helped to stabilize pricing in the latter case.
Now, you could look at this chart and say that the pace of low-rise price increases is simply unsustainable. The market must correct.
But you could also look at it and say that the market is going through a fundamental shift whereby more and more families will start living up, as opposed to out – which should then translate into high-rise pricing trending upwards as unit sizes increase. This is where I think we are headed.
What do you reckon is happening?