In case you missed the news: There are public forums being held to discuss #Toronto#budget priorities for 2024. The first event happened today at Scarborough Civic Centre. In addition to 3 virtual meetings, more in person panels will be held at the Etobicoke Olympium, Toronto Reference Library, North York Memorial Hall, and Rexdale Hub.
There is also an online questionnaire.
Make sure to get your voice heard and support funding #AffordableHousing.
"To get America building, we need to understand what actually gets in the way of most projects. It isn't bureaucrats in Washington, or counties with strict height limits on buildings, or environmental activists chaining themselves to pipelines. It's pissed-off locals, who don't want stuff — any stuff — built in their backyards."
Seriously - that's one of the things I do have to agree with developers and brokers:
If one can't build high-rises without literally bribing construction permit officers so hard they choke on €500 bills and have purple palms then it's just not feasible to build #AffordableHousing!
Decided to do a drive-by of the affordable housing complex I am hoping to land a spot in. It's a bit more closely-packed on the site than it looked in the application literature, but it still looks like it'll beat the crap out of my current apartment even without considering it should be at least $200 cheaper in monthly rent 😲
Out and about just to get some outdoor nature vibe on a misty moisty morning. Today's big contemplation: trying to not let my hopes run wild, but I might have made the cut for some affordable housing. Won't know for sure until December, so now to wait, gently start planning, and strategically distract myself from obsessing over the matter. Waiting is hard. 😅
It is absolutely wild that over the course of my 30 year mortgage, I will pay ~$585,000 for my $250,000 house. That doesn't even include the private mortgage insurance since we only put 3.5% down.
I wouldn't be able to save up $250,000 cash otherwise. The price would be much higher than 250k by the time I could save 250k.
But someone making ~$335,000 off me buying my $250,000 house is bananas. It's expensive to be poor. It's even worse for poor renters.
"The Biden administration on Friday announced federal financing & other incentives designed to convert high-vacancy commercial buildings in downtown spaces around the country into residential use in an attempt to increase housing supply.
Administration officials said office space vacancies have hit a 30-year high, while housing costs remain high for millions of Americans & there is a shortage of affordable housing units."