Housing

Housing

Housing is the crisis

Housing is the crisis behind every other crisis in this city. I’ll act on two tracks: build what we need for the long term, and help people today.

Long term, the city builds

Public land stays public

I will never sell or give city land to developers. We’ll build homes on it through community land trusts and long-term land leases, so families can own a home at a fraction of the market price while the land stays public forever.

Affordable homes come first

Approvals move faster for projects that deliver real affordability.

Tiny homes and modular homes, built fast

Well-designed tiny homes in backyards, alongside garden and laneway suites, and small-home communities on vacant city land, with proper heat, water, safety and support services.

Innovation that builds faster, cheaper and better

I’m an engineer who researches stronger, longer-lasting building materials. Factory-built homes assembled in months, pre-approved designs that skip months of permitting, empty offices turned into homes, and Toronto as a testing ground where our universities and local builders pilot new methods on public land.

Speculators pay their share

A stronger vacant-home tax and higher taxes on luxury properties and high-value sales, with every dollar going to affordable housing.

Right now, we help people stay housed

Eviction prevention

Emergency rent help and free legal support for tenants facing eviction or bad-faith renovictions.

Rent supports for families on the edge, and faster access to social and supportive housing.

Work with the people already doing this work

Faith groups, non-profits, co-ops and neighbourhood organizations get land, faster permits and real partnership from the city.

Toronto will no longer throw its people away. A home is not a luxury. It’s the foundation of every life in this city.

Shelter & homelessness

A real answer to homelessness

Shelter is never a destination, an emergency bed is a bridge to a permanent home. The mayor runs Toronto’s shelter system. I will make it safe, humane, and housing-focused, and keep demanding the housing, health, and income supports only the province and Ottawa can fully fund.

Organizing principle

Shelter is never a destination, an emergency bed is a bridge to a permanent home.

Where we are

About ~8,925 people used Toronto’s shelter system on a single night in Nov 2025, and about ~9,637 were “actively homeless” over the prior 3 months, more than doubled in 3 years. On average about ~148 people were turned away nightly in Sep 2025 (down from 200+ in 2024 as fewer refugee claimants). The City is opening 1,275 additional shelter spaces for winter 2025–26; advocates say it is still not enough.

Toronto Public Health: about ~300 deaths of people experiencing homelessness in 2023; 331 in 2022; for women experiencing homelessness the median age of death was 36; overdose is a leading cause, why safe women-only spaces matter. People get stuck without permanent housing exits, HousingTO 2020–2030 is the spine.

What a mayor can deliver

Deliver: Move people home, every shelter stay paired with a housing plan and a worker; expand housing-focused shelter, rapid rehousing, rent supports, and supportive housing; ties to keeping public land public.

Deliver: No one turned away into the cold, expand capacity and 24h respite; end nightly turn-aways; year-round planning, not a winter scramble.

Deliver: Safety, privacy, dignity as standards city-wide, protect and expand women-only and family spaces; trauma-informed design; more private/single-room capacity; staffing, security, health and harm-reduction; a working complaint process.

Deliver: Single-user universal washrooms across the shelter system and all city facilities, private, lockable, accessible.

Deliver: Encampments, humane: offer indoor options people will accept (safe, private, room for a partner, pet, and belongings) plus a real path to housing, not sweeps-first.

What I’ll fight for

Housing, health, and income supports need the province and Ottawa, a mayor pushes for them.

Advocate: Supportive housing, mental health/addictions, and income supports funding.

Advocate: A fair federal share of asylum-claimant costs downloaded onto the city.

Honest line

The mayor runs the shelter system and can make it safe, humane, and housing-focused, ending homelessness needs the province and Ottawa on housing, health, and income. Deliver the first; never stop demanding the second.

An emergency bed is a bridge. Permanent homes (and the care that keeps people in them) are the destination.

Housing

Housing First, Learn from Finland, Deliver for Toronto

Finland cut homelessness by treating a home as the starting point, not the prize at the end of a maze. Housing First: people get a permanent place to live, then optional supports for mental health, addiction, and daily living, without making sobriety or perfect compliance the ticket in the door.

Toronto can learn that lesson without copying Helsinki wholesale. Our costs, laws, and shelter system are different. The principle travels: housing is the foundation; treatment and services wrap around it; shelter stays an emergency bridge, not a destination.

What the City can Deliver

Deliver: Make Housing First the organizing rule for exits from shelter and encampments: every stay paired with a path to a permanent or long-term home and a worker who follows through.

Deliver: Expand supportive and rapid-rehousing stock on public and partnered land, including well-run tiny-home and modular options where they meet safety and dignity standards, so people are not stuck waiting for a perfect apartment that never comes.

Deliver: Separate housing from punishment: do not require treatment completion before offering a key; offer treatment, harm reduction, and recovery as available supports once housed.

Deliver: Fund and coordinate on-site and mobile supports (case management, mental health, addiction care, life skills) so tenancies stick.

Deliver: Measure what Finland measures in spirit: fewer people homeless, shorter shelter stays, successful housing retention. Publish the numbers.

What we will Advocate

Advocate: Queen’s Park and Ottawa capital and operating dollars for supportive housing at the scale Housing First needs.

Advocate: Income and health supports so rent and care are stable after someone is housed.

Honest line: Finland shows Housing First works when government builds enough homes and funds the supports. A Toronto mayor runs shelters, land, and partnerships; ending homelessness still needs the province and Ottawa. Deliver the city side; demand the rest.

Questions? Email bethechangeno1@gmail.com · Call (647) 785-3729

Responsible renting

Responsible Renting Toronto

Protect Good Tenants. Support Responsible Landlords. Hold Bad Actors Accountable.

Nearly half of Torontonians rent their homes. Every renter deserves a home that is safe, healthy and properly maintained. At the same time, responsible landlords, including small landlords who provide an important part of Toronto’s rental housing, deserve a system that is fair, predictable and accountable.

My approach will not begin by labelling either landlords or tenants as the problem.

It will begin with evidence.

1. Crack Down on Negligent and Repeat-Offender Landlords

Toronto will aggressively enforce health, safety and property standards against landlords who repeatedly refuse to maintain their buildings.

We will strengthen enforcement against serious and documented problems including unsafe conditions, unresolved pest infestations, mould, lack of heat or water, elevators and common areas, structural or safety issues, ignored repairs and repeated property-standard violations.

Pest control is a housing standard. Cockroaches, bedbugs, mice, rats and similar infestations require prompt, professional treatment and building-wide follow-through where infestations spread. Escalate fines for landlords who leave units or buildings untreated after complaints or orders.

Clear accountability for corporate landlords: escalating municipal penalties that bite, not a cost of doing business. Escalate when landlords ignore orders or the same building piles up open work orders.

Where violations continue after reasonable opportunities to comply, the City should escalate enforcement and use the powers already available to it.

2. Protect Responsible Landlords Too

Toronto’s rental system depends on responsible housing providers, including individuals and families who rent out a basement apartment, condominium or second property.

They should not be treated as though they are responsible for the behaviour of negligent landlords.

The City will provide clearer information and navigation assistance to landlords dealing with serious tenancy problems such as substantial property damage, persistent non-payment of rent, safety concerns or serious interference with other residents. City processes should not bury responsible small landlords who follow the law in red tape when they have a legitimate case.

Where an issue falls under provincial jurisdiction, the City will help residents understand how to access the Landlord and Tenant Board rather than pretending Toronto has powers it does not possess.

3. Create a Toronto Rental Housing Accountability Dashboard

Before spending millions of dollars on another enforcement initiative, Torontonians should be able to see the evidence.

I will require transparent reporting of:

• rental-property complaints received by the City
• inspections conducted
• confirmed violations
• repeat violations
• orders issued and compliance rates
• average resolution times
• buildings with serious outstanding violations
• enforcement costs and outcomes

We should distinguish between a complaint, an alleged violation and a confirmed violation.

Policy should be based on verified evidence, not political labels.

4. Expand Transparency for Rental Buildings

Toronto already evaluates buildings through RentSafeTO. I will make this information easier for prospective tenants to understand before signing a lease.

Tenants should be able to check significant outstanding property-standard violations and relevant building information.

Transparency creates an incentive for landlords to maintain their properties while helping renters make informed decisions.

5. Establish a Rental Housing Resolution Service

Many landlord-tenant problems should not require months of conflict.

I will establish a City navigation and early-resolution service to help tenants and landlords understand:

• their rights and responsibilities
• which level of government has jurisdiction
• available mediation and community services
• City inspection and enforcement processes
• when an issue must go to the Landlord and Tenant Board

The objective will be to resolve appropriate disputes earlier while directing serious cases quickly to the proper authority.

Prevention before eviction: connect tenants in temporary financial hardship to available supports before housing problems become homelessness.

6. Protect Tenants from Retaliation and Illegal Practices

Tenants must be able to report unsafe housing conditions without fear.

No tolerance for illegal lockouts, harassment or retaliation against tenants who exercise legal rights. Toronto will strengthen education and enforcement within municipal authority concerning property standards and will connect tenants facing possible illegal eviction, harassment or other Residential Tenancies Act issues with appropriate provincial and legal resources.

7. Protect Toronto’s Rental Housing Supply

We cannot solve the housing crisis by driving responsible rental providers out of the market.

Toronto needs purpose-built rental housing, affordable housing, co-ops, non-profit housing and responsible private rental housing.

My administration will examine municipal fees, approval delays and unnecessary regulatory barriers that make creating legitimate rental housing more difficult, while maintaining strong health and safety standards.

8. Advocate for a Faster and Fairer Landlord and Tenant Board

Many of the most important landlord-tenant disputes fall under Ontario’s jurisdiction, not Toronto’s.

As Mayor, I will advocate for an accessible and timely Landlord and Tenant Board where both tenants and landlords receive due process and cases involving housing security, serious maintenance problems, rent arrears or substantial property damage can be resolved without unreasonable delay.

When there is clear evidence of serious or repeated non-payment, deliberate damage, violence or conduct that threatens other residents’ safety, lawful decisions should not face endless delay.

I will also advocate for stronger protection against bad-faith evictions and renovictions: accountability where legal processes are deliberately abused to flip units for much higher rent, and for provincial rental legislation that delivers both housing security and accountability.

Honest line: Faster process cannot mean easier abuse of tenants’ rights. A mayor uses Toronto’s enforcement powers where the City has jurisdiction (property standards, bylaws, Municipal Licensing and Standards, prevention) and advocates to Queen’s Park for provincial rental law and Landlord and Tenant Board reform. A mayor does not rewrite the Residential Tenancies Act or run the LTB.

One Standard: Responsibility

A tenant paying rent deserves a safe and properly maintained home.

A responsible landlord deserves protection of their property and a fair process when tenancy obligations are seriously breached.

Neither landlords nor tenants should be stereotyped because of the misconduct of a minority.

My housing policy will therefore be based on a simple principle:

Protect responsible tenants. Support responsible landlords. Hold proven bad actors accountable, and publish the evidence.

That is how we build a rental system based on fairness, housing security and mutual responsibility.

Related: A Toronto Rental Registry for rent transparency and unit-level accountability.

Questions? Email bethechangeno1@gmail.com · Call (647) 785-3729

Rental registry · Housing transparency

A Toronto Rental Registry: Bringing Transparency and Accountability to Our Housing Market

Toronto has a housing affordability problem and a housing-information problem. We talk about rents, renovictions, neglected buildings, and affordability, yet the City still lacks one system showing what is happening to rental housing unit by unit. As Mayor, I would pursue a Toronto Residential Rental Registry and Rent Transparency System, learning from Dubai’s Ejari while designing for Ontario law and Toronto’s market.

Organizing principle

Know the property. Know the rent. Know the history. Protect personal privacy. Make information work for the public.

What a mayor can deliver

Deliver: Close the RentSafeTO information gap. RentSafeTO covers rental apartment buildings with at least three storeys and 10 units: registration, evaluations, complaints, and published scores. It is a building-standards program, not a registry of individual tenancies, and it skips condos, townhouses, and basement apartments. Examine how Toronto can close that gap.

Deliver: Secure digital registry of rental units and new tenancies, within Toronto authority, Ontario’s Residential Tenancies Act, and privacy law. Record address and unit, owner or authorized manager, tenancy start and end, rent at start, later registered rent changes, rent-control status, and relevant City property-standard data. Tenant names and personal information stay off public search.

Deliver: Pre-lease transparency for renters. Before signing, look up useful unit facts. Example framing only: prior rent $2,050 vs advertised $2,600, when that tenancy ended, whether rent control applies, and outstanding City property-standard violations. Ontario’s guideline generally limits increases during a covered tenancy, not on turnover. Units first occupied after November 15, 2018 are often exempt.

Deliver: Protect good tenants and good landlords. Not an anti-landlord system. A verified record of rent, dates, and responsible owner or manager can cut factual disputes. Good landlords can show proper registration and compliance. Integrate with RentSafeTO instead of another disconnected bureaucracy. From June 2026, registered buildings also show colour-coded score signs.

Deliver: Better anonymized rental data for policy. Track rents by neighbourhood, building type, and unit type; tenancy changes; rapid-increase areas; secondary rental supply; and whether affordability policies work. Registration can become data infrastructure, a lesson from Dubai’s Ejari without copying it blindly.

Deliver: Public business case before any savings claim. Do not invent millions in taxpayer savings before analysis. Possible savings: less duplicated admin, automated verification, prioritizing higher-risk buildings, resolving facts online, and RentSafeTO integration. Toronto already charges RentSafeTO owners a 2026 annual fee of $30.82 per residential unit, plus cost-recovery fees for audits and some enforcement. Require a public business case: implementation cost + annual operating cost + anticipated admin savings + cost-recovery revenue + measurable enforcement-streamlining savings before any millions claim.

Deliver: One registration, one record, better accountability. Longer term, connect rental registration, property standards, inspections, outstanding orders, and other legally publishable property information so residents are not forced through multiple databases to understand a home’s condition and history.

Deliver: Staff legal, tech, and financial business case. Ask City staff for the legal, technological, and financial business case, consulting tenants, small landlords, institutional providers, privacy experts, and the Province of Ontario.

What I’ll fight for

Advocate: Provincial alignment under the Residential Tenancies Act so a Toronto registry works with Ontario rent-guideline, turnover, and exemption rules rather than inventing City power the RTA does not grant.

Advocate: Privacy-respecting coordination with the Province where it improves tenant protection and housing policy without putting tenant personal information on a public search.

Honest line: Pursue a registry within City authority and Ontario’s Residential Tenancies Act. Tenant personal information is not publicly searchable. Do not invent millions in taxpayer savings before a public business case. Housing transparency will not solve Toronto’s housing crisis by itself, but we cannot properly manage a housing market that we cannot properly see.

Toronto can learn from international cities without copying them blindly. Dubai’s Ejari shows what systematic rental registration makes possible. Toronto already has RentSafeTO and substantial housing data infrastructure. The next question is how those tools can be connected and expanded within Ontario law.

Questions? Email bethechangeno1@gmail.com · Call (647) 785-3729

Housing partnerships

Public, Private & Community Partnerships for Housing

Toronto can’t end homelessness and the housing shortage with City Hall alone. Pair government with school boards, provincial agencies, public institutions, non-profits, faith groups, universities, health institutions, and responsible private owners. Turn vacant and underused space into homes through collaboration that is sustainable and scalable.

What a mayor can deliver

Deliver: One-stop partnership office for organizations and owners ready to offer land or buildings for affordable housing, supportive housing, or emergency and transitional shelter.

Deliver: Fast-track appropriate conversions and affordable projects. Keep building, fire, and safety standards.

Deliver: Targeted municipal incentives within city authority (expedited planning and permits, appropriate fee relief, technical help, rehab programs) only where there is measurable public benefit.

Deliver: Where taxpayers give significant help: binding agreements on affordability depth, safety, accessibility, maintenance, and how long units stay affordable. Transparent public reporting of incentives given versus homes delivered.

Deliver: Partner with non-profit and community housing operators to run suitable properties.

Deliver: Encourage long-term leases and land partnerships so owners need not sell to participate.

Deliver: Match underused properties (including parking areas and underused buildings that don’t compromise essential operations) with groups that can renovate, finance, and operate.

Deliver: Actively connect owners to housing providers, financing, and government programs instead of leaving suitable buildings empty while people sleep in shelters or outside.

What I’ll fight for

Advocate: Provincial agencies, school boards, and other public institutions to bring their surplus and underused assets into the partnership pipeline.

Advocate: Senior-government financing and programs that make conversions and supportive housing viable.

Build partnerships for sustainability and scale: collaboration across public, private, and community partners so empty spaces become safe homes and stay affordable over time.

Honest line: Government does not have to own every building to create affordable housing. A mayor convenes land, financing, and operators, and never trades public incentives for vague promises.

Identify what Toronto already has, repair what can be repaired, unlock underused land and buildings, turn empty spaces into safe homes.

Questions? Email bethechangeno1@gmail.com · Call (647) 785-3729