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It would be great to know the breakdown of population loss by municipality within the CMA, and for the six pre-amalgamation cities of Toronto.

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That is, does that 540K include areas of loss in DAs in the older parts of Mississauga, for example, and Oakville, Etobicoke, etc. Looks like the 540k figure relates to areas of loss across the Census Metropolitan Area?

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So 70% of the DAs within the current City of Toronto boundaries? Or Census Metropolitan Area boundary? It’s important to the interpretation of the 540k figure.

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Pamela Blais @pamelablais.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

What area do you mean by “old Toronto”? The former City of Toronto or the pink/red areas in the current City of Toronto?

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Denser cities are not only more environmentally sustainable, but more economically productive, fairer, and better for workers. Removing height restrictions can realise these positive effects. @ahlfeldt.bsky.social ow.ly/lp6e50YwbjW

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Pamela Blais @pamelablais.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Thank you for securing this approval Sean! We are excited to move forward….

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Pamela Blais @pamelablais.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

Which is why the findings need to be revived and repeated ad nauseam until they become more difficult to ignore.

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Pamela Blais @pamelablais.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

A 2021 City of Ottawa study showed that a new unit in the denser core returns $606 per capital to the city in annual tax revenue, while a new unit in low density greenfields costs the city $465 per capita annually.

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Pamela Blais @pamelablais.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

Oh, and also foreign capital.

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Pamela Blais @pamelablais.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

Here’s some 1 Review OP neighbourhood character policies, esp. how they relate to densification policies 2 A simple, clear guideline outlining acceptable measures for single stair up-to-4 storey bldgs 3 Paris-style street greening, including school streets.

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Pamela Blais @pamelablais.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

Now that EHON is wrapping up, what should @planning.cityof.toronto.ca ‘s next pressing planning priorities be?

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Fair enough. But for those interpreting the charts, minimum added dwelling needed to avoid doubling up, e.g., is not equal to actual demand but would over-estimate it.

How does the data differentiate between those who are doubling up out of necessity versus those who prefer to live together, eg student roommates, seniors seeking companionship, etc.?

If you dramatically increase the supply of residential mortgages, which is what government-backed NHA mortgage-backed securities and Canada Mortgage Bonds programs were aimed at doing and did very successfully, not surprising perhaps that that would result in upward pressure on house prices.

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The Bank of Canada report noted that public securitization may cause lenders to overextend mortgage credit beyond what would exist without securitization, leading to “…more leveraged households and elevated house prices.”

This has been widely acknowledged, including by the Bank of Canada. Fed gov guarantees NHA Mortgage-backed securities and Canada Mortgage Bonds. Last time I checked, Cdn taxpayers were on the hook for almost half a *trillion* dollars of MBS.

Pamela Blais @pamelablais.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Or, better still, just remove provincial HST from the first $1,000,000 of new housing prices. That would remove $80 K from prices, equivalent to the current DCs for 2+ bedroom units in Toronto. And could be done tomorrow.

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Pamela Blais @pamelablais.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Thing is you don’t need the cumbersome and no doubt lengthy process of creating municipal service corporations for water, etc. Just create a separate property tax levy on new units for capital costs. This takes costs out of home prices and annualizes them.

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Pamela Blais @pamelablais.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

Great article on single stair buildings and my Toronto sixplex. With multiplexes now as-of-right, single stair solutions offer huge potential for simple, high quality, livable, replicable buildings within neighbourhoods. I hope many others will be encouraged to pursue this potential.

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Pamela Blais @pamelablais.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

One of the interesting findings of other follow-up research on the NYC charge was that travel speeds (for cars and public transit) improved not only within the charge zone, but outside it too, ie even non-payers benefit.

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Reposted by Pamela Blais

Bryn Davidson - Lanefab @lanefab.com · 10/12/2025

In 2021 I connected “stair daddy” @holz-bau.bsky.social with CoV staff to see if they had any funding for a study. His report (and obsessive posting) helped kick off a movement that now is taking hold across North America.

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Pamela Blais @pamelablais.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

The original all-purpose, heavy-duty, city-country hauler:

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Pamela Blais @pamelablais.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

Suspect this won’t really reduce the number of C of A applications needed, but probably will move buildings a bit closer to lot lines!

Pamela Blais @pamelablais.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

Did you know that as per a new Planning Act Regulation, as long as a building setback is 90% of a required min setback from a lot line, it no longer has to go to Committee of Adjustment? EG if a required front yard setback is 3 m, you can have 2.7 m.

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Reposted by Pamela Blais

Conrad Speckert @conradspeckert.bsky.social · 30/11/2025

They are single exit stair configurations as permitted for sprinklered buildings of up to 25m in height by the National Construction Codes of Australia.

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Pamela Blais @pamelablais.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

Small-car manufacturer should counter with a parked pickup with a litre of milk strapped tightly down on the truck bed under their ad.

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Pamela Blais @pamelablais.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

I feel that there hasn’t been attention paid to the fact that as per Bill 17, development charges on condos & ownership housing are no longer payable upon building permit, but upon occupancy permit. This is helpful, bc developers no longer have to finance the cost of DCs thru construction.

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Pamela Blais @pamelablais.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

Interesting that private apartment construction tanked across all the former TO municipalities by the end of the 70s, not just the one with a new reform council in ‘72. Plus a lot of new units were built in the burbs! nb data is from a diffrnt source than Jeff’s chart, so #s not exactly comparable.

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Pamela Blais @pamelablais.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

What I meant was that the TO Council reform measures didn’t cause much of the steep drop in rental unit construction shown in Jeff’s chart in the mid-1970s. But it did have longer-term impacts by affecting the political culture around urban development and planning policy.

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Pamela Blais @pamelablais.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

Even so, agree it did have long-lasting effects on Toronto planning culture and local politics, as you point out.

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Pamela Blais @pamelablais.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

I’ve come to the view that the 1970s height restriction + reforms probably didn’t actually affect growth much in TO. It happened to coincide with cancellation of v successful fed tax incentives + rent control, & rental construction tanked not only in the old City, but Scarb, NYork + Etobicoke too.

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The reform Council policies for sure had some impact, along with fed and provincial legislative changes imo. My guess is the rental construction party was already breaking up when TO got Crombied.

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Yup. However, Jeff’s chart includes what were former independent munis. Their rental construction collapses too, even tho they were not subject the Crombie height limit. North York, eg, added almost 55,000 rental units 1960-79, and only c.2400 1980-99.

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North York, eg. went from building almost 55,000 total rental units between 1960 and 1979, to about 2,400 in the 1980-1999 period.

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The fact that rental housing collapsed across the now-city, including in Scarborough, Etobicoke, North York, which unlike the old City had no sudden height restriction imposed, suggests factors in addition to zoning, esp. cancellation of fed incentives and legislation permitting condos.

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Jeff presumably data in this chart represents what is now the City of Toronto, but for earlier years Metro Toronto?

That was part of it, for sure, but also cancellation of very effective federal incentives for rental construction, and the introduction of condo legislation.

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Just a note on the pressurized stairwell.. our units open directly into the stairwell, which in itself contravenes code. If we had vestibules/corridors, pressurization would not have been needed but we opted for the latter because the former would have impacted unit layouts given our small building.

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Here, it seems, vestibules or a corridor are required with shared-use stairs.

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Thank you. All our units open directly into the stairwell. We accepted pressurization in lieu of the usual vestibules or corridors, as that option would have have too-negative impacts on our units and layouts.

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Many thanks to our consultant Jack Keays at Vortex Fire as well as @conradspeckert.bsky.social, and to those in TO Buildings and Fire Services who revisited our alternative solution proposal and saw their way to an approval. 6/6

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This is a good, reasonable outcome, and an important step toward more livable, accessible and viable missing middle housing. I hope our experience makes the process smoother for future single stair ASPs in low rise buildings in the City. 5/6

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