
The United Way of Greater Toronto has recently issued a report called Building Inclusive Communities: Learning from Programs and Policies that Work. Much of Canada’s population growth in the coming decades is expected to take place in Toronto and the municipalities that surround it.
The report begins with research, which demonstrates that where someone lives in the Toronto area affects their life and health outcomes. The United Way wants to set a course to make neighbourhoods more inclusive. Building Inclusive Communities is part of that effort.
The authors of the report looked for examples of good practices in Canada and the United States. Nine program interventions are discussed. Five aim directly at regulating the supply of housing that is affordable for households with very low incomes:
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- rent control (controlling rent increases in private rental units)
- inclusionary zoning (controlling the rents in some units when a new building is constructed)
- rental unit replacement (replacing affordable units when a building is demolished)
- right to return requirements (following renovation) and
- community land trusts.
Building Inclusive Communities discusses two community land trusts on the east coast of the United States1 as well as the Parkdale Neighbourhood Land Trust (PNLT) in Toronto. The PNLT owns the land and the buildings, which are rented to people with very low incomes.
Read more at the United Way of Greater Toronto: Building Inclusive Communities: Learning from Programs and Policies that Work
For more about the Parkdale Neighbourhood Land Trust, try: A Land Trust For Rooming Houses
And for a story about community land trusts on the U.S. west coast, see this article in NextCity2: Our Corporate Landlord Tried To Push Us Out. We Saved Our Homes Through A Community Land Trust.