A housing-crisis story, reframed: Why it’s really about empathy
Toronto’s housing crisis is about supply and demand. About cold economic disparity. Our writer found her solutions story in an empathetic response that may be shifting perspectives on the ground.
Canada’s housing crunch is especially acute in Toronto. High interest rates have tamed home prices some, but rents have soared. Short supply is squeezing residents – from young professionals to new immigrants.
Solutions might be rooted in human values, not cold math. As the Monitor’s Sara Miller Llana approached reporting a story about responses to the situation, she focused on the intergenerational tension she saw at play.
“I was just trying to think about the dynamics behind that tension,” she tells the Monitor podcast “Why We Wrote This.” “And I realized that empathy is a value that’s really driving or shaping some of this debate.”
What she found: small movements working to encourage shifts in thought on housing. They’re encouraging wealthy property owners in large spaces to consider the plight of would-be residents who can’t get a foot in the door – and to consider being open to higher density housing in which people from different strata might mix. Potentially “a win-win for everybody,” says Sara, who sees Canada as aspiring to make it work.
Her story ended up being a good fit for the Monitor. “I think there are a lot of solutions that are linked to empathy and compassion,” says Sara. “One of them is [re-examining] the status quo.”
Episode transcript
Samantha Laine Perfas: Welcome to “Why We Wrote This.” I’m Samantha Laine Perfas.
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Laine Perfas: Today, I’m joined by Sara Miller Llana, the Monitor’s Americas Bureau Chief, based in Toronto. Sara has reported from more than 40 countries in multiple languages, and traveled to some of the world’s most intriguing places, including the Brazilian Amazon, the Galapagos Islands, Patagonia, Moscow, Ukraine, and the Canadian Arctic. Now, living in Toronto, she’s experiencing firsthand the country’s affordable housing crisis, and is going to share a bit about her reporting on the issue. Sara, thanks for joining me.
Sara Miller Llana: Thanks for having me.
Laine Perfas: To start, could you tell me a little bit about Toronto’s housing crisis?
Miller Llana: Sure. This fall in October, UBS named Toronto as the worst real estate housing bubble in the world. It’s even ahead of London, Hong Kong and Sydney. Only 10% of people living here, wage earners, could afford to even buy a home in the first place. The story has now shifted, a bit. Because of soaring interest rates, we’re now seeing prices come down, but rents have now soared. My neighbors across the street, just to name one example, they are Brazilian Ph.D.s with two great jobs. Their landlord sent them a note and said, we’re going to raise your rent by 16%. Now they’re facing an eviction. That’s a very common story here in Toronto. That really changes the nature of a place. If two Ph.D.s from Brazil can’t live here, who’s going to move in? It just becomes a much more homogenous place.
Laine Perfas: What are some of the causes that have led to what we’re seeing today?
Miller Llana: Some of the things that get a lot of attention are the usual suspects, like foreign buyers or Airbnb. But I think it really comes down to a lack of supply here. There’s a lot of NIMBYism, and that stands for Not in My Backyard. I live in a townhouse, but most of the houses are detached housing here. And any time there’s a proposal to build something, there is a huge protest, because people worry about their schools getting overcrowded or public transport being overcrowded, or just the nature or identity of a community changing. And that tends to break down along generational lines because people who don’t want the neighborhood to change are homeowners who tend to be older. And it’s younger people that can’t get their foot in the door.
Laine Perfas: This idea of intergenerational tension is really interesting. Did you meet anyone or talk to any groups that put that aspect of the crisis into perspective?
Miller Llana: Yeah, for sure. So I was just talking about NIMBYism, but there’s a counter movement called YIMBYism, which means, “yes in my backyard.” And I met a group of generally young Torontonians who started an organization called More Neighbours Toronto. They are trying to share their message that more housing is not scary. It’s actually the solution that a city like Toronto needs. And so they show up at these development meetings. A lot of the times the people that are proposing development plans will hear, just complaint after complaint about all the reasons why this development project shouldn’t go through. So this group, they’ll raise their hands and they’ll say, “This is a great idea.” Or, “This is somewhere that we could see ourselves living or our friends living.” And it just really helps to put a human face to this issue. And it breaks down along generational lines, because the people at these meetings tend to be older people that don’t want their communities to change.
And then, there’s another group that really got me starting to think about this called Generation Squeeze. They’re proposing to put a surtax on homes that are valued at over $1,000,000. Their whole point is that young people have sacrificed so much and they can’t get their foot in the door. And so it really asks older people with housing wealth to look in the mirror and say, you know, how am I implicated in this issue?
Laine Perfas: Did you feel that approaching this story as a Monitor reporter gave you a different perspective?
Miller Llana: Absolutely. I’ve been intrigued by this idea of intergenerational tension for a long time. And so I was just trying to think about the dynamics behind that tension. And I realized that empathy is a value that’s really driving or shaping some of this debate. So More Neighbours Toronto, when they show up at these meetings, I wouldn’t say that their goal is to generate empathy for their cause, but it’s a byproduct. You know, you go and you can see real people and a generation who truly cannot get their foot in the door. And the same is true with Generation Squeeze. They held this entire campaign right ahead of Thanksgiving in Canada, which happens before American Thanksgiving, because they knew families were going to be sitting around the table together and they just wanted to have people have conversations about what it means for the older member to have this house and a younger member sitting around the table who cannot get a house because of all of the housing inflation. And just how there are solutions within families if we really address the inequity at play here.
Laine Perfas: Could you talk a little bit more about this value of empathy and compassion? How might it help the different generations to think about this in a new way?
Miller Llana: Part of our mission at the Monitor is also to present solutions. And I think there are a lot of solutions that are linked to empathy and compassion. One of them is looking at the status quo. I am looking out my window right now in Toronto, and right next to me is a woman from Ukraine who’s in her 90s. Across the street is a man from Ukraine also. I live in the former Ukrainian neighborhood here. He is in his 90s. They both live in really big houses, and it’s not necessarily an ideal solution for them. If we allow for some higher density housing, but, you know, in low rise condominiums and that kind of housing, these people might be able to move to a place that’s more suitable to their needs, but they’re able to have the same neighbors and go to the same supermarket and just have familiarity. And that helps them. That helps the young family who can’t afford a detached home. It really is a win-win for everybody.
Laine Perfas: Moving forward, is there anything that you see happening that might cause Canada to focus on this issue a little more?
Miller Llana: I think there is a recognition that this is a major, major problem at all levels of government. There are solutions being proposed all the time. And I think in recent months there is even more attention paid to this because of population growth in Canada, because of immigration. So Canada has really overtaken the U.S. in terms of immigration, and Canada is very proud of that identity. It announced in November it was going to bring in 500,000 immigrants every year for the next three years. That’s 1.5 million immigrants. It’s part of its identity to be accepting. But you’re just starting to see people question: “Okay, well, where are they going to live? How does that fit into the housing crisis?” I don’t think this is going to turn into an anti-immigration thing at all. I think it’s going to turn into a “We really, really need to address this housing issue if we’re going to be the Canada that we aspire to be.”
Laine Perfas: Thank you so much, Sara, for sharing your thoughts on this.
Miller Llana: You’re welcome.
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Laine Perfas: Thanks for listening. To find the transcript and our show notes, which include links to some of Sara’s work. Go to CSMonitor.com/WhyWeWroteThis. This episode was hosted by me, Samantha Laine Perfas and co-produced with Jingnan Peng, edited by Clay Collins. Alyssa Britton was our engineer, with original music by Noel Flatt. produced by the Christian Science Monitor. Copyright 2023.
