Toronto is facing a crushing housing shortage

Advocates and city councillors are hopeful Toronto's change in leadership will usher in an age of better housing policy and rapid construction amid an ongoing housing shortage.

Advocates and city councillors are hopeful Toronto's change in leadership will usher in an age of better housing policy and rapid construction amid an ongoing housing shortage.

Toronto's new planning and housing committee is inheriting the task of not only easing the city's housing shortage and affordability crisis, but helping it achieve the municipality's larger target of building 285,000 homes by 2031.

The mayor, speaking to CBC Radio's Metro Morning on Friday, said she isn't worried about differences in ideology getting in the way. If anything, she thinks having diverse perspectives can help lead to more innovation and collaboration.

"What I'm seeing, which is really encouraging, is a real sense of commitment. Let's give this a try," said Chow.

Chow said she wants the committee to start off by seeing through any outstanding private developer contracts, taking stock of the city land to get non-profit developers involved or have the city start building units through its real estate branch CreateTO, and finding ways to keep tenants from getting evicted.

Meanwhile, Bradford — who opposed Chow during the mayoral byelection and took aim at her housing plans — says he wants to support Chow however he can, even if he doesn't fully agree with her approach.

To do this, he said he'll focus more on the planning side by moving forward with as-of-right zoning, meaning projects would largely avoid lengthy approval processes, building code reforms and speeding up permit timelines — all things that could help developers beyond the city get involved.

"The best thing that local government can do is create an environment where it is faster, easier and more affordable to deliver housing," said Bradford.

Mark Richardson, an affordable housing advocate and the technical lead of HousingNowTO.com, a volunteer group that keeps tabs on the progress of the city's signature affordable housing program, Housing Now, says he hopes the committee learns from previous mistakes and drawn out projects.

He cited the time gap between the start of construction on the first Housing Now project earlier this week and the program's launch in 2019.

"Mayor Chow and and her planning and housing committee hopefully have learned those lessons and will adapt and be nimble," said Richardson.

While ideological differences on the committee could be a point of tension, Richardson says the housing crisis is something that goes beyond political stripes. The only thing that matters now is that they work together, he says.

"It's not progressives and conservatives. It is about delivery."