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"LRTs displace all the poor people"?
(06-25-2018, 09:28 AM)Markster Wrote: This is what people mean when they complain about gentrification. And it really is a shining example the double-edged sword.
Those 53 units were clearly in disrepair, and not a healthy place to live in, but the 103 units that replaced them are now too small for families, and likely cost almost the same in rent.

So … how big were the units before, and how big are they now? How many people lived in each one? Do we actually know that the rent per square foot is doubled?

Charlie West two-bedroom units are 700-800 sq ft, and arguably a two-bedroom unit should be big enough for at least a three-person family, possibly even a four-person one. (In other countries it certainly is, and I shared a bedroom with my brother until I was 15, and didn't complain about it, either.) And for those people, there are now twice as many units available, and some of them will likely be subsidized, so this should be a win for them. (This assumes no value judgement about smaller but nicer units.)

14.3% of households consist of four people and 8.3% consist of five people or more (three-person households are 15.6%). That's 22.6% that potentially cannot live in Woodside. But those families are also more likely to want a dwelling with a yard than a single person or a childless couple would be, so I would argue that they would likely only make up 10-15% of potential apartment-dwellers. For them, it's a loss, but I really don't see the evidence at this point that this is a huge loss for affordable housing.
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(06-25-2018, 11:12 AM)Markster Wrote: Indeed, there are lessons to be learned from 50+ years ago.
But I don't think that building no public housing needs to be the obvious takeaway from that.

In the case of Regent Park, the rebuild is a success, but it's almost entirely just replacing existing public housing at a 1-1 rate. It is just treading water.

I don't think municipal governments in general (at least in Canada) have much appetite for building public housing at this point. A P3 arrangement could possibly work, by having a private developer build and operate the housing within a well-defined affordable housing framework. Ideally, as Dan said, with less than 50% affordable so as to avoid the Regent Park-type issues.  (Of course there can also be multiple levels of affordability and that could be one option.)
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(06-25-2018, 08:46 PM)tomh009 Wrote: So … how big were the units before, and how big are they now? How many people lived in each one? Do we actually know that the rent per square foot is doubled?

Not sure what the old rents were, but is safe to say they were substantially lower than this:

1 Bedroom Floorplans (they look to be about 450-500sqft)
Madison – starting at $1095
Glen – starting at $1095
Kehl – starting at $1175
Lilac – starting at $1200
Borden – starting at $1175

2 Bedroom Floorplans
Dunsmere – starting at $1420

Indoor Parking: $85
Outdoor Parking: $45

Heat, hydro, and water extra.
Everyone move to the back of the bus and we all get home faster.
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