Drips of water falling into our bedroom from the attic was the last straw. We called a roofing company, and kick started our plans to rebuild the attic. When I went to check our building application status on the City’s website, I was shocked.
There were hundreds of building applications in our corner. The City map shows our area covered in pink dots, each representing a rebuild. There are 598 building applications in the vicinity.
In our case, it took us a long time to plan the renovation of our small house on our small lot near Oakwood and Eglinton. Our family was growing up and growing old. We looked into the real estate market, for years. Everything was over a million dollars. After COVID, the economy didn’t really pick up so we couldn’t afford to move to a larger house to fit everyone.
So, we buckled down, hired an architect and made plans for a rebuild back in 2023. But we never acted on it. Until now. Since then, our first child had become a young adult with plans to attend university in the city. Grandpa is nearing 80-years-old and wants to live with us. And our roof is falling apart.
We remortgaged and refinanced to fund our housing project. A new space for our young adult and one for our old one too. And a little more room for us as well.
Looking at a few neighbouring applications, I see that a new home built at the corner of Gloucester and Oakwood is building a laneway suite to replace a garage. A property at Lanark has a proposal for two detached units, and a tiny bungalow at the corner of Alameda and Clovelly is becoming a fourplex
The list of new units in our area goes on, and on, and on.
It surprised me to learn that new housing, so needed in the city, is being built by us. Not our governments. Not developers.
This is our quiet resolution for a housing crisis. But it means that families like ours are getting deeper into debt while we wait for a real solution.
Something big like a housing revolution.
A housing revolution wouldn’t just mean more buildings – it would mean starter apartments young people can actually afford without roommates rotating every six months; family-sized rentals near schools and transit so parents aren’t forced out of the city the moment they have a second kid; stable, dignified homes for seniors who want to age in place without choosing between rent and groceries.
It would mean co-ops and non-profit housing that keep communities intact, gentle density that adds homes without erasing neighbourhoods, and faster builds that don’t take a decade to get going.
We want to start building as soon as possible this year. And with so many of us doing the same thing at the same time, we’re making up the bulk of Toronto’s housing investment.
We’re doing our very best to put a band aid on the city’s housing crisis.
While we quietly wait for a true housing revolution.
