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"Supporting laneway and garden suites is one of the smartest, most grassroots ways to solve the housing crisis."
Austin Vieira
Laneway and Garden Suites:
Ward 19 features many deep lots in East York that are perfect for Laneway and Garden Suites. While the city has introduced standardized building plans and development charge exemptions, homeowners are still paralyzed by thousands of dollars in "soft costs," complex engineering fees, and months of municipal delays. As a councillor, I will champion a "Green Stamp" program specifically designed to eliminate the remaining financial and bureaucratic barriers that stop families from building "mortgage-helper" units or housing for aging parents.
Solutions:
The 45-Day Permit Guarantee: Mandate Toronto Building to implement an expedited review track that guarantees structural building permit issuance within 45 business days for any property owner utilizing a compliant, pre-approved architectural plan.
Targeted Municipal Fee Waivers: Eliminate up to $10,000 in upfront city-controlled soft costs by completely waiving building permit application fees and zoning review fees for applicants.
As-of-Right Committee Exemptions: Solidify automated municipal approval pathways that completely exempt standard, pre-approved building designs from the costly and time-consuming Committee of Adjustment process if they strictly meet core height and setback rules.
Affordable Housing
"As a renter, I am acutely aware of how exhausting it is to watch my entire paycheck go straight to the landlord."
Austin Vieira
Provincial restrictions regarding Inclusionary Zones have resulted in curtailing many of the affordable housing requirements the city had used with private developers. The best solution seems to be for Toronto to take on development itself, leveraging public-owned lands to meet affordable housing targets. To boost affordable housing in Ward 19, the city can identify underutilized city assets, specifically money-losing Green P parking lots and aging municipal service buildings. By leveraging the Public Developer Model, the city can maintain ownership of the land while partnering with non-profits to build "missing middle" and high-density housing. This strategy, already proven successful at sites like Amroth Avenue, bypasses the high cost of land acquisition, allowing every taxpayer dollar to go directly toward construction and deep affordability. Converting these sites into mixed-use hubs not only addresses the housing crisis but also revitalizes local main streets by adding residents who support small businesses.
Current Developments (Underway or Approved):
72 Amroth Avenue is a key example of Toronto's Public Developer Model, utilizing city-owned land to develop a 6-storey, 34-unit, 100% affordable rental project. This approach showcases how to build deeply affordable housing within the EHON initiative, bypassing the need for expensive land acquisition.
1631 Queen Street East: A 1.11-acre city-owned site slated for a massive mixed-use redevelopment that includes 99 affordable rental units, a new childcare centre, and Indigenous placekeeping spaces.
155-157 Danforth Avenue: While technically in the neighboring ward, this City of Toronto project serves as a blueprint for Ward 19, combining a public library with several floors of affordable rental housing above.
"When we look up at empty shop windows on the second floor, we aren't just seeing vacant storage, but also looking at the missing homes our community desperately needs."
Austin Vieira
Upper Floor Units:
Commercial main streets across Ward 19 are battling artificial "dead zones" caused by underutilized and vacant storefronts. While many properties along the Danforth and Queen Street East corridors have empty, upper-floor storage spaces, local business owners are blocked from converting them into housing by the prohibitive cost of modern fire separations, independent HVAC systems, and zoning reviews. As a councillor, I will champion a ward-specific pilot program that unlocks these upper floors, turning empty spaces into legal 1- and 2-bedroom apartments for local workers, small-business employees, and young families.
The Main Street Fire-Code Modernization Grant: Create a specialized matching grant stream of up to $50,000 per property to help small commercial landlords cover the capital costs of installing legal fire walls, independent egresses, and soundproofing between retail and residential zones.As-of-Right Residential Conversions: Eliminate costly rezoning wait times by establishing automatic "as-of-right" approval for residential conversions above main street storefronts, bypassing the Committee of Adjustment for projects that maintain existing building envelopes.