In 2019, the City of Toronto announced that it was going to create Housing Now.
asserted
it → announce → Now
Then-mayor John Tory launched a program by that name to urgently build mixed-income housing on city land.
asserted
Tory → launch → land
Seven years later, not one of those homes has been completed.
asserted
one → complete → homes
Yet, despite housing costs and availability dominating local politics for years, it has not been a defining issue in Toronto’s municipal election campaign ahead of the vote on Monday.
asserted
it → dominate → Monday
Nor has it been in Vancouver, where the Green Party’s Pete Fry defeated incumbent mayor Ken Sim on Oct. 17 to end ABC Vancouver’s hold on the mayor’s office.
asserted
Fry → defeat → office
This year, candidates have devoted more attention to other issues, principally taxes and municipal spending, perceptions of public safety, homelessness and transit.
asserted
candidates → devote → safety
Part of the explanation is that, as the housing market has softened, elected officials no longer see planning reform and housing construction as an urgent priority.
asserted
officials → soften → priority
The current drop in rents and prices may be weakening the political resolve for change – even as a recent slowdown in construction points to another shortage in the near future.
uncertain
slowdown → weaken → future
“New people are likely coming to our cities whether we want them to or not,” says Mark Richardson, a housing advocate with the Toronto group HousingNowTO.
asserted
Richardson → come → group
(The group’s name refers to the city program.)
asserted
name → refer → program
“We will be ill-prepared for it.
asserted
We → prepare → it
Rents will start climbing again, bidding wars will return to some neighbourhoods, and people will act surprised that this has happened again – even though it’s predictable.
asserted
it → start → neighbourhoods
”
In the Vancouver region, “People feel the crisis is easing,” says Alexandra Flynn, a housing policy expert and associate professor at the University of British Columbia’s Peter A. Allard School of Law.
asserted
Flynn → feel → Law
“Asking rents in Vancouver are down from their 2023 peak and condo prices are still falling, so for some voters, the sense of emergency isn’t what it was.”
asserted
it → ask → emergency
The market in both cities has been influenced by two trends: A high number of newly completed homes has coincided with a sharp decline in demand owing to decreased immigration.
asserted
number → influence → immigration
At Vancouver City Hall, these changing conditions have altered the conversation.
asserted
conditions → change → conversation
Mr. Sim and his ABC party came to power in 2022 promising to address housing affordability, including through zoning reform.
asserted
Sim → come → reform
The province has also weighed in: David Eby’s NDP government in 2023 passed a bill mandating higher-density housing near mass transit, and another bill widely permitting “small-scale multiunit housing.”
asserted
government → weigh → housing
However, in Vancouver, specific city planning changes that would make it easier to build housing have sputtered.
asserted
it → make → housing
This summer, responding to vocal opposition from some residents’ groups, council voted to reject the proposed Villages Plan, which would have allowed new low-rise housing in 17 neighbourhoods.
asserted
which → respond → neighbourhoods
That set back the city’s effort to accommodate more homes across established residential areas, a centrepiece of the recently revised Official Development Plan.
asserted
That → set → Plan
Although housing may not be a primary election issue, it nevertheless remains a major source of concern among voters.
uncertain
it → remain → voters
A recent Ipsos poll of British Columbians found that housing affordability and availability is the third most pressing issue.
asserted
affordability → find → Columbians
“It is strange how little politicians are speaking to housing affordability,” says Daniel Oleksiuk, director of the advocacy group Abundant Housing Vancouver.
asserted
Oleksiuk → speak → group
“Politicians don’t seem to want to address this in 2026, but they will have to face the facts eventually.”
asserted
they → seem → facts
He added that Mr. Fry has not set a clear direction on housing policy, and the new councillors – a majority, including several from the left-wing COPE party – do not have clear records on housing.
asserted
councillors → add → housing
“There is an opportunity for those people to see whether they want to open up more of the city’s neighbourhoods or not.”
asserted
they → be → neighbourhoods
In Toronto, “This has not been a housing election,” says Matti Siemiatycki, director of the Infrastructure Institute at the University of Toronto.
asserted
Siemiatycki → say → Toronto
“In the last few years, housing was the top issue – it’s really a good reminder of how quickly the winds can shift.
asserted
winds → ’ → years
This marks a change from the period between 2020 and 2024, when all three levels of government were actively trying to accelerate housing construction.
asserted
levels → mark → construction
The federal Housing Accelerator Fund tied funding to municipal commitments to reform planning and increase housing supply.
asserted
Fund → tie → supply
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow has focused her re-election campaign on a property-tax freeze, capping transit fares and school food programs.
asserted
Chow → focus → fares
Her principal opponent, Brad Bradford, has emphasized public safety, traffic congestion and “cost of living.”
asserted
opponent → emphasize → living
On housing, Ms. Chow has emphasized protections for existing tenants, overseen the creation of Toronto’s public builder, and has emphasized the role of government in building social housing and partnering with private builders, as in the Housing Now program.
asserted
Chow → emphasize → program
She has set a broader target of 65,000 new rent-controlled homes approved – not built – by 2030.
asserted
She → set → 2030
Mr. Bradford, a professional urban planner who worked at City Hall before running for office, has taken a different tack.
asserted
who → work → tack
While promising tenant protections and financial supports for non-profit builders, he has also proposed eliminating the city’s land transfer tax on a first home purchase up to $1.1-million, a savings for homebuyers that his campaign estimates at $18,000 that will cost the city around $300-million annually.
asserted
that → promise → million
Mr. Richardson, the housing advocate, argues that the current downturn is a missed opportunity for governments to invest in affordable rental housing.
asserted
governments → argue → housing
“Construction materials, construction labour and land are never going to be cheaper than they are now in Toronto,” he says.
asserted
he → go → Toronto
“This is a Boxing Day sale on housing, and the fact that our governments at all three levels are mostly twiddling their thumbs, not exploiting this opportunity to greatly invest in affordable rental housing, is just sad.
asserted
governments → twiddle → housing
…and 14 more, not listed.
The Aporia
