David Hulchanski (Professor, Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto) has studied homelessness and housing affordability for 40 years. When the City of Toronto released the Housing TO 2020-2030 Action Plan, he had some harsh words for it;

"I call it fake affordable housing; it's market housing to help developers who build rental buildings to market their very expensive rental buildings."

https://nowtoronto.com/news/affordable-housing-crisis-toronto-homelessness

The City is increasingly turning to a public/private partnership model, just like the proposal at 1631 Queen in the Beaches.

Over 81,000 Torontonians languish on the waitlist for deeply affordable housing, where the average wait time is over 12 years. The City should be prioritizing helping those people first rather than investing in these “fake affordable” 80% below market rentals for only 1/3rd of the units. Meanwhile, the remaining 2/3rds are luxury units for well off folks. This is not the answer. It's like men trying to take the seats of women and children on the lifeboats of the Titanic.

1631 Queen should be a 6-storey building and 100% affordable. This public land could be used to create the deeply affordable units we need, while also in a format that blends into the streetscape….not a high-rise that opens the doors of the Beach to enrich developers.

Thankyou for helping us get to 2,900 signatures! Lets help 3 times as many people get off the waiting list while also keeping the Beach as a mid-rise built form!

Consider making a donation to the cause: https://gofund.me/127cdc35