Still Renovating: A History of Canadian Social Housing Policy
Available from McGill-Queen’s University Press. LINK
Other published and academic work
I am interested in the ways affordable housing intersects with urban planning & development, housing markets, and evolving social policy.
“Offset Mirrors: Institutional Paths in Canadian and Australian Social Housing” International Journal of Housing Policy 11(3) 2011 LINK
Canada and Australia are so alike—and yet not. Different contexts and policy moves have created contrasts that can help us understand Canada better.
Rental Paths from Postwar to Present: Canada Compared (University of Toronto, Cities Centre, 2009) LINK
Tower renewal is vital for Toronto’s future. This study compared Canada’s 1950s–70s rental boom, and later trends, to other countries. Remarkable parallels to Europe.
Growth Management and Affordable Housing in Greater Toronto (Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation, External Research Program, 2007) LINK
A study of spatial income polarization in the GTA, seen through rental housing dynamics that drive the trends. Linking housing mix, social mix, & changes in city-building.
Rental Rental Housing Dynamics and Lower-Income Neighbourhoods in Canada (Neighbourhood Change Research Partnership, 2015) LINK
Deepening spatial concentration of poverty in postwar areas is interpreted with reference to three concepts: filtering, socio-tenure segregation, and rental residualization.
“Basement Suites: Demand, Supply, Space, and Technology” The Canadian Geographer 61(4) 2017 LINK
Emergence of the basement apartment sector by the 1970s is explained in terms of changing rental demand and supply, urban growth, and technology of the home.
Canadian Social Housing: Policy Evolution and Impacts (PhD, University of Toronto, 2014). LINK
For policy history —read the book instead, Still Renovating!
But if you’re interested in broad systemic impacts of social housing in its 1965-1995 heyday… Chapter 6 shows how it helped create diverse housing stock, more housing choice, & better affordability. Chapter 7 shows social housing once fostered spatial income mix (less concentrated poverty).
Some conference papers…
“Post-Neoliberal or Just Past Social Housing? Affordable Housing Policy in Ontario, Canada since Devolution” (ENHR conference 2014) LINK
“A Review of Affordable Rental Policy in Toronto, 1997–2017” (UAA conference 2018) LINK