Spacing Radio

In the federal election just passed, we heard many big ideas about how to tackle the housing crisis. And we could sure use a major effort from our new federal government. But there is also a lot of research and advocacy done about smaller-scale approaches that would have outsized impact on housing affordability and availability. And we examine two of them. First, we speak to two people from the advocacy group Vivre En Ville: Director of Housing Adam Mongrain and housing advisor Ines Zerrouki about the role non-profit housing can play in this crisis. And we spoke to McGill University Associate Professor of Architecture and Urban Planning Nik Luka and LGA intern architect Conrad Speckert about how adding gentle density or missing middle hosing to existing neighbourhoods can increase supply, if we just allow it to be built (as many Canadian cities did in the past). How can small-scale housing fixes make big impact in Canada?

In this episode, with Prime Minister Mark Carney's pick of former Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson as Minister of Housing and Infrastructure, we reached out to longtime urban affairs writer Frances Bula to learn about Robertson's housing legacy, and how he might approach his new job. And we speak to Howard Tam, a city builder and founder of Eat More Scarborough food tours about the variety and quality of cuisine there, and how the people of Scarborough are taking back their own story.

Episode 87: Building Housing With Election Planks by Spacing Radio

We can learn a lot about evictions and the housing crisis from cities in other countries, all over the world. Often, we draw comparisons to our neighbour just south of the border: the United States. Just like us, renters in the States are dealing with soaring rent prices, a lack of security of tenure, and the threat of eviction. But they're also dealing with a second Trump presidency that threatens to remove protections for renters, scrap housing programs, and defund research into solving the housing crisis Tim Thomas is Research Director of the Urban Displacement Project at University of California, Berkeley. He tells us about the hurdles renters in America face, the racial bias inherent in many of the laws governing evictions and displacement, and how housing advocates and academics are scrambling to come to terms with Trump 2.0.

Evictions are a problem for renters across the country. As we explored in the last episode: part of tackling the housing crisis requires improving "security of tenure" for the many people who rent their homes. But evictions are difficult to quantify. Many of them are not reported. And each province has different processes, legislations, and tribunals surrounding evictions and landlord/tenant disputes. How do we get a picture of evictions across the country? Alexandra Flynn is an assistant professor at the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia. She's been tracking eviction data from province to province. We asked her about her findings. And David Wachsmuth an associate professor at McGill University's School of Urban Planning and Canadian Research Chair in Urban Governance. He's been conducting meta analysis and qualitative research on evictions in Canada. He tells us a startling fact about people who experience homelessness after an eviction. What can we learn about eviction

In a snap election called ostensibly to decide which Ontario provincial party leader can take on Donald Trump, we sure have spent a lot of time talking about highways. In this episode, we speak to Emma McIntosh, reporter for The Narwhal, about the various election promises made about highways in Ontario. Do we expand them, remove their tolls, or simply tunnel them under ground at an unimaginable expense? We break down what the party leaders are saying about solving highway congestion. And, it's either the end of an era in Winnipeg, or the beginning of a new chapter. After over 45 years, the barriers preventing pedestrians from crossing the iconic downtown intersection of Portage and Main are coming down. We ask CBC Manitoba senior reporter Bartley Kives what led to this politically-charged change, and what it means for the future of Winnipeg's downtown.

For renters, security of tenure — the ability to stay in a home without fear of being destabilized by eviction — is essential. When you have that security, you can put down roots in your neigbhourhood for you and your family. But evictions occur all the time. They may be the result of lack of payment, but there are different legal avenues for landlords to pursue "no-fault evictions," such as renovations or moving in a family member. Sometimes these are simply loopholes being exploited, but that's difficult and costly to prove for the renter. Because housing is such big business, there is plenty of incentive to evict current tenants and name a new, higher price. Alina McKay is Research Manager for the Housing Research Collaborative the the University of British Columbia and Sean Grisdale is a PhD Candidate in Geography and Planning at the University of Toronto. They have both been conducting research on evictions and security of tenure.

With Justin Trudeau stepping down as Prime Minister and the very real possibility of an federal election, Premier Doug Ford mulling over a snap provincial election, and President-elect Trump threatening a trade war, it's almost impossible to predict what 2025 will hold. And yet, Toronto and other municipalities in Canada must muddle through as best they can and create an annual budget. That process has already started in Toronto. To rate Trudeau's legacy (for better or worse) in Toronto, and to identify possible pitfalls and goals for the megacity's newest budget, we've put together a panel discussion featuring CivicAction CEO Leslie Woo and Spacing Senior Editor John Lorinc.

This time of year, with the temperature below freezing, it feels appropriate to talk about housing. So, we're bringing you two conversations with two authors who have both recently written about that very topic. Carolyn Whitzman is the author of Home Truths: Fixing Canada's Housing Crisis. And Mitchell Cohen wrote Rhythms of Change: Reflections on the Regent Park Revitalization. The first book provides a macro view of housing in Canada, and the second provides a look at a specific development in Toronto.

Découvrez comment Montréal repousse les limites de l'innovation urbaine. Grâce aux témoignages de Maxime Thibault Vézina, Chef de division au Laboratoire d'innovation urbaine à la Ville de Montréal, et de Raphaël Guyard, conseiller sénior à la Maison de l'Innovation Sociale, explorez comment la technologie, des démarches participatives pour adapter la réglementation, et la collaboration entre acteurs publics, privés et citoyens s'unissent pour façonner une ville plus inclusive, durable et tournée vers l'avenir.

The City of Toronto has been named a "role model city" by the United Nations Environment Program for Supporting Urban Ecosystems. It's part of an initiative the UN calls "Generation Restoration," part of their Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. To find out why Toronto has been named a role model, and what that city can teach others across the world about fostering and protecting their urban ecosystems, we speak to Kim Statham, director of Toronto Urban Forestry, and Wendy Strickland, project manager for the Toronto Ravine Strategy. Listen to the episode to hear how cities can play a role in ecosystem restoration.

With Premier Doug Ford's repeated promises to rip up bike lanes in Toronto, and possibly even other Ontario cities and towns, we've decided to dive deep into why and what that might mean for the future or road safety and city planning. We have a panel discussion featuring Cycle Toronto Executive Director Michael Longfied and Toronto Today Editor Allison Smith. We talk about both the impact of removing cycling infrastructure and why Doug Ford has suddenly made a few kilometres of bike lanes in Toronto a provincial priority. And we speak to Deputy Mayor and City Councillor Amber Morley about she defends the new Bloor Street bike lanes in her ward, and how/if the City can move forward with safe street projects.

We're pleased to bring you another season of The Overhead, and we begin by checking back on a topic we've been tracking from the start: community land trusts. This time, we're focusing specifically on the "community" aspect of land trusts. We've spoken about the benefits of removing certain land from the market, preserving it as affordable housing in perpetuity. But how do land trusts help longstanding cultural communities so they can continue to call their neigbourhoods home? We see different communities turning to land trust model as a way to avoid displacement, or reassert cultural ownership over land they've traditionally called home: in the traditionally Black neighbourhoods of Hogan's Alley in Vancouver and Africville in Halifax, or in Toronto's Chinatown. To answer this, we spoke to Nat Pace, network director of the Canadian Network of Community Land Trusts, and Chiyi Tam, managing director of the Toronto Chinatown Land Trust. As Tam puts it, when we talk about the heritage of a place, we spend a lo

This month, we respond to Doug Ford's stated plan of banning new bike lanes in Ontario municipalities and building an underground highway from Markham to Scarborough. Then we speak to environmental lawyer and cycling advocate Albert Koehl about his book Wheeling Through Toronto: a history of the bicycle and its riders. We talk about how attitudes towards cyclists have changed over time, or even repeated themselves. Finally, we talk to transportation consultant and former TTC Chair Adam Giambrone about the need for a culture change at Toronto's transportation commission.

It's been a while since we had a good, old-fashioned transit talk with friends of the show Tricia Wood (York University urban geography professor and Spacing contributor) and Matt Elliott (Toronto Star columnist and publisher of the City Hall Watcher newsletter). We talk about returning TTC service levels to pre-pandemic levels, what we should look for in the next TTC CEO, what is even happening with the Eglinton Crosstown, and Doug Ford's transit expansion plans.

We heard a lot about drones at the Paris Olympics, but what about in our own backyard? In this episode, Spacing's John Lorinc tells us about a piece he wrote called Eyes in the Sky, which documents the stealthy creep of the Toronto Police Service's use of drones to keep tabs on residents. Next, author and green advocate Lorraine Johnson tells us about an open letter she co-signed urging Canadian municipalities to change their outdated bylaws which prohibit growing habit gardens and other helpful plant species in our lawns and backyards. Finaly, Ingrid Buday founded No More Noise Toronto out of frustration with the city's high-volume noise pollution, especially traffic sounds. The group advocates for new bylaws protecting residents' right to peace and quiet, and gathers its own data to make the case.

Toronto is often accused of being over-regulated. It's a fair criticism. For example, photographer and urbanist commentator Dan Seljak tells us how he stumbled upon the small Finch Store selling espresso, fighting to stay open in the face of City zoning laws. For more of the story, and how Finch Store was granted a reprieve, we speak to local City Councillor Alejandra Bravo. And we speak to Councillor Gord Perks, chair of the Planning and Housing Committee, about why Toronto works on complaints-based bylaw enforcement, and how we can improve the system for small businesses, special events, and more.

It's Bike Month! It's a time we celebrate cycle culture in Toronto and surrounding cities and towns. At least officially. Despite some significant gains in cycling infrastructure, there are still a lot of people and (more troubling) politicians who'd like to run riders off the road. To put this all into perspective, we spoke to Lanrick Bennett Jr., a cycling advocate who, for the last few years, has represented Toronto as the Bicycle Mayor. And, Spacing co-founder Shawn Micallef tells us about the new edition of his book Stroll: psychogeographic walking tours of Toronto. In 2010, Shawn wrote the book as a series of guided walks, with historic background and personal reflections, through different parts of the city. Now, 14 years later, he's retread those steps for a brand new version of the book.

Wildfire season has already begun in Canada. Due to climate change, we are seeing more frequent and devastating fires. They choke the air, the decimate the landscape, and they displace people from their homes. So we have to fight them with everything we've got. Neal McLoughlin is superintendent of the Predictive Services Unit at BC Wildfire Service. He tells us how AI and drone technology is helping to monitor, fight, and prevent forest fires. And Moulay Akhloufi is a professor at the University of Moncton, where he heads their Perception, Robotics and Intelligent Machines Lab. He tells us how his team has been exploring every avenue available to detect wildfires, and predict how they'll spread. That includes video games.

With the change of the seasons, we talk about different kinds of renewal. First, Senior Editor John Lorinc talks about the special Spacing investigation into the cyber attack on the Toronto Public Library that shut the service down for months. How did it happen, and how do we make sure our public institutions are hacker-proof? And, the latest Spacing Magazine issue is on shelves now. As a preview, we share the full conversation with Toronto Public Space Committee organizer Cara Chellew (available in the issue as a Q&A) about the need for new Toronto street furniture: garbage bins that work, bus shelters that actually provide shelter, and places for people to sit.