Will this area be transformed, or it will be some sort of an island in the middle of several poor and seedy neighbourhoods?
If you walk west on Dundas, things look pretty depressing all the way to Yonge st. Not sure it will change any time soon. I am not sure many folks will pay $600/sf for that location. It is not like it is considerable cheaper than say St Lawrence Market, UofT area or the waterfront, none of which have so such concerns.
 
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Will people spend money here? They are.

Sure there will be pockets of poverty around it for years, but there will be gradual and significant regeneration too. Everything takes time, and Regent Park's rebirth is coming along impressively.

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I think city planning has come a long way since they re-did Regent Park in the 1940s/50s.

However, my concern, more than anything, is that although they're creating a greater mix of housing types and price points in Regent Park, there is so little truly affordable housing being built downtown or anywhere in the city. I'm not saying it had to go in Regent Park, but more throughout the city's core is desperately needed.
 
affordable housing to own -- no they are not building that.

but rental rates have hardly increased over the last decade beyond inflation, so there is plenty of "affordable" housing for those willing to rent. A lot of these new condo units will become rental stock.
 
SP!RE said:
I think city planning has come a long way since they re-did Regent Park in the 1940s/50s.

However, my concern, more than anything, is that although they're creating a greater mix of housing types and price points in Regent Park, there is so little truly affordable housing being built downtown or anywhere in the city. I'm not saying it had to go in Regent Park, but more throughout the city's core is desperately needed.
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I don't think "affordable housing“ should be built in downtown any more. Land is too expensive to do that.
Build them near downtown with good transit. St Clair West, Danforth, Junction. Why does subsidized housing have to be downtown? It is not like taking a streetcar to services will kill the low income families. Moss Park and all those shelters already show how detrimental they can be to prime real estate.

If a family making $50K can't afford living downtown, why does the government want to insist one making $25K should?
 
Ideally lower income people can live all across the city including downtown. Ghettos should be a thing of the past.
 
Edward said:
Ideally lower income people can live all across the city including downtown. Ghettos should be a thing of the past.
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Ideally, but gettos and semi-gettos will never disappear.
People with similar income level tend to gather, which is why you don't see low income or mid income families in Bridle Path or Rosedale. Most high income and middle class families don't want to live among jobless or low income people, who have a different habit of doing things, and the latter might not want to live close to the rich either. Something we can't do anything about.

Why not build some affordable housing in Yorkville? both transit and services are great.
 
balenciaga said:
I don't think "affordable housing“ should be built in downtown any more. Land is too expensive to do that.
Build them near downtown with good transit. St Clair West, Danforth, Junction. Why does subsidized housing have to be downtown? It is not like taking a streetcar to services will kill the low income families. Moss Park and all those shelters already show how detrimental they can be to prime real estate.

If a family making $50K can't afford living downtown, why does the government want to insist one making $25K should?
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That last line shows where you really stand.

The idea is that EVERYONE should be able to live downtown and that our city would be all the better for it; not only the very poor but the middle income all the way up to the rich.

As for your land values/"prime real estate", Toronto doesn't have an issue with that. Toronto does, however, have a problem with equality and affordable housing for all different income levels.

Anyways, if your priorities place some imaginary need for more expensive real estate on prime land above creating a healthy mixed social realm for our city, then our values don't line up whatsoever so I won't be trying to convince you. Just know that the current model of downtown being too fashionable for all but the rich isn't going to work forever.
 
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SP!RE said:
That last line shows where you really stand.

The idea is that EVERYONE should be able to live downtown and that our city would be all the better for it; not only the very poor but the middle income all the way up to the rich.

As for your land values/"prime real estate", Toronto doesn't have an issue with that. Toronto does, however, have a problem with equality and affordable housing for all different income levels.

Anyways, if your priorities place some imaginary need for more expensive real estate on prime land above creating a healthy mixed social realm for our city, then our values don't line up whatsoever so I won't be trying to convince you. Just know that the current model of downtown being too fashionable for all but the rich isn't going to work forever.
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It is not my priority to place more expensive real estate on prime land, and I am not against low income families living downtown at all.

What I am saying is that the government should not artificially create such affordable housing zones - which will likely degenerate into gettos making itself and nearby areas less valuable and hard for business to survive. And my other question is, the affordable housing projects obviously have a income threshold - not everyone is qualified. If that's the case, what about those who are slightly above the threshold but are not wealthy enough to live downtown, isn't it unfair to them?

That said, downtown Toronto is not too fashionable for all but the rich right now. Maybe those ultra-glitzy condos are (and many of their buyers save a lot and sacrifice space, let's not forget that), but there are still plenty of pretty inexpensive rentals scattered around the core. You don't exactly need to make $100k in live downtown, unless you have to own a new condo at the most desirable location, which is absurd.

I think as a large city, downtown Toronto did pretty well in maintaining both its attractiveness and affordability. Look at other cities around the world, not many have the number of affordable rentals in the core.

And if you think the poor should be able to purchase properties in the core too, and it is the government's duty to guarantee that, then I totally disagree. If that's the case, why not build affordable housing in Rosedale, Yorkville and Forest Hill as well, as apparently low income/middle class people should have the "right" to live there too.
 
Regend Park changes fast and I rather like its new face! balenciaga, you remind me of another (former) UT member--kkgg7--with very similar ideas on social issues...
 
Taken December 30, 2012:

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