This a big month for laneway (housing) advocates in Toronto. Last week, City Council voted in favor of expanding the policy provisions for laneway suites to all Neighbourhoods within the city. (Neighbourhood is a defined term in the city’s Official Plan.) Previously, the policies —… Read More
I met Mark Garner, who is the COO and Executive Director of the Downtown Yonge BIA, about five years ago. We met because of our shared passion around Toronto’s laneways. At the time, you weren’t allowed to do what we now call laneway suites. Housing… Read More
It happened. Today, Toronto and East York Community Council voted unanimously in favor of adopting a planning framework that would allow laneway suites on lands within the Toronto and East York District that are designated as “Neighbourhoods.” If you’d like to see the actual vote (and… Read More
Last month the Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law Amendment that would have permitted laneway suites as-of-right in Toronto was deferred by Community Council. So the “Changing Lanes” policy has been updated – to obviously make it more restrictive – and it will head back to… Read More
Earlier this year I wrote about the California housing bill (827) intended to dramatically increase housing supply around transit stations all across the state. Well that bill was rejected last month and the Los Angeles Times wrote this post post-mortem explaining why and how it… Read More
Some of you might remember that last summer the city refused my laneway house/suite here in Toronto. Well that was last summer and this is this summer. On May 2, 2018 – which just so happens to be my birthday – Toronto and East York Community… Read More
Chris Bateman does some terrific sleuthing in the Globe and Mail this week to determine that the girl pictured in the below photo, dated May 15, 1913, is Dora (Dorothy) Cooperman – daughter of Morris Cooperman, a clothing presser. Dora is standing in front of… Read More
This morning I presented and sat on a panel at BILD called “bringing laneway suites to Toronto.” The other participants were Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon, George Pantazis (Planner at the City of Toronto), Mike Collins-Williams (Director, Policy at OHBA), and Andrew Sorbara (co-founder of Lanescape). Here… Read More
I promise that this post won’t be all about laneways. This afternoon Erin Davis of Torontoist published a post called: Are Laneway Suites a Solution to Toronto’s Housing Crisis? There’s a quote in it from yours truly: Brandon Donnelly, a 34-year-old real estate developer, has… Read More
Today I learned that Councillor Ana Bailão and Councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon have put forward a motion to the June 13, 2017 Toronto and East York Community Council. It asks the Chief Planner and City Planning to undertake further public consultation and report back in Q1… Read More
