It might feel to those looking for a new apartment in Toronto that there just aren’t that many available. And there aren’t. According to the CMHC, Toronto has a 1.1% rental vacancy rate, well below the 3–4% considered ideal for a healthy housing market.

A low vacancy rate of course means that for every unit that becomes available, there is a long line of prospective tenants looking to lock it down. It’s no wonder that rents have increased so dramatically over the past year, as bargaining power continues to shift in ever-greater favour of a relatively small pool of landlords.

As of this year, a bachelor apartment averages upward of $1,600 per month. For a one bedroom, that’s $2,000 per month, and $2,700 per month for a two bedroom.

If you’re looking for an apartment in Toronto, none of the above comes as much of a surprise.

If however, you’re a longtime homeowner, well past the age at which you’ve had to pay rent to a landlord, you might not be aware of how acute this problem has become — of how stressful it could be to those less established and secure.

This situation can often make for impossible choices. How can you take a job or get an education if you can’t afford to live within a reasonable distance of your office or school? How can you raise a family if you can’t afford to cover both rent and childcare costs? And how can you earn the stability of becoming a homeowner yourself if you can’t even begin to imagine saving for a downpayment?

Those who already own homes may not be aware of these challenges and tradeoffs. That difference in experiences sets the stage for a battle brewing over the development of a purpose-built rental building at 18 Brownlow in midtown.

18 Brownlow. Image retrieved from submission to City of Toronto.

Originally proposed in 2015 as a 463 unit project, it was scaled down in 2016 to 369 units, and again in 2017 to 176 units, largely in response to pushback from the local residents’ association, SERRA.

SERRA, however, is still not content with the proposal, demanding instead that further reductions in scope be made over height concerns. They also worry that this project will set a precedent for other buildings in the future.

This showdown is a microcosm of what can neatly be summed up as a clash of classes, if not of generations. On one hand, established homeowners shouting Not In My Backyard in a neighbourhood specifically targeted by the Province for growth. On the other, a generation drowning in the high cost of housing, working ever-harder to fend off the prospect of a required move to the suburbs or exurbs.

It bears repeating: a 1.1% rental vacancy rate is very low.

If the situation is to improve, we’re necessarily going to need to build a lot of new housing units. Especially purpose-built rental units, with professional management and long term security of tenure for renters.

In short, we’re going to need to build dozens of 18 Brownlows, over and over again, throughout the city.

SERRA doesn’t quite see it this way, noting that, “this development is likely for ‘luxury’ apartments for empty nesters”, implying that it wouldn’t do much to address the shortage of affordable housing in Toronto. But let’s think that through.

First, it is very likely that the new units proposed at 18 Brownlow will be priced at somewhat of a premium, given that people generally like new things, including apartments, and are willing to pay more for them. Those people however, then exit that line of prospective tenants mentioned above, and stop competing with every other apartment-hunter for available units.

Second, rental units for empty nesters are exactly what we should be building if we’re to see them in fact empty their nests. There is no benefit to keeping a widower stuck in a large detached house for lack of better options, especially when that house could be used by a young and growing family, or as is often the case, subdivided into multiple new rental units.

Finally, luxury units become affordable over time, just as luxury cars become affordable over time. Our 1.1% rental vacancy rate and expensive rents are consequences of the fact that we did not build enough luxury units 20, 30, 40 years ago. We need more housing of all types and at all price levels.

The current state of affairs is pretty bleak, and there isn’t much on the horizon to signal that it should improve any time soon. And that’s largely because our housing policy is more deferential to the height concerns of homeowners than the basic living concerns of the precariously housed.

However, there is a way to reduce the stress caused by rising rents and achieve a more balanced rental vacancy rate.

If we want more people to have rental housing in Toronto, we’re going to need to build more rental housing. 18 Brownlow is a proposal for more rental housing.

On Wednesday, January 17th, 6:30PM, at Best Western Hotel 808 Mt. Pleasant Rd., North of Eglinton, the City is hosting a public meeting to solicit community input as it assesses the proposal. Generally, these meetings are dominated by local NIMBYs.

If you feel, as we do, that housing matters, and that new housing units should be encouraged and not opposed, please do show up and let the City know.

It’s not often obvious to the homeowners who oppose new development that their actions have far-reaching consequences for those less fortunate. Let’s remind them.