VANCOUVER – Kay Matthews doesn’t mince words when asked about the state of businesses fighting to survive in downtown cores across Ontario. “We’re struggling,” said Matth...
Mixed-use is a fantastic template for a building, given we can then roll up so many extra bungalows and their hoarded greenspace to be re-wilded (or zoned back agri) or shared as parkland.
But this is a plan for new builds. Rendering some floors to housing doesn’t magically fix the issue that every floor is unsuitable as housing without extensive remodel. It just means some floors stay as office and some floors are unsuitable for housing, same as before.
Moratorium on non-mixed-use
Moratorium on sub-20-level buildings
Increase shared greenspace requirements
Increased tax inversely proportional to density due to users-per-metre of infrastructure
Rental income over and above a value related to a single average income per 2 beds is taxed brutally - but let the air b&bs back (with innkeeper licensing and that tax shelf)
Minimum living-space-per-human values, reducing that ceiling if undersized. Because renting out a shed like a house is inhumane
Added property tax if the building is >50yo and fails rule 1+2 above.
Mixed-use is a fantastic template for a building, given we can then roll up so many extra bungalows and their hoarded greenspace to be re-wilded (or zoned back agri) or shared as parkland.
But this is a plan for new builds. Rendering some floors to housing doesn’t magically fix the issue that every floor is unsuitable as housing without extensive remodel. It just means some floors stay as office and some floors are unsuitable for housing, same as before.