23:59:59

Experience the power of 5G with T-Mobile with faster 5G, speeds Nationwide super fast or Game On The Go Bus. T-Mobile has more 5 so you can take next. What matters most almost anywhere. We've seen how. we do T-Mobile has America's largest IT Network. That is based on a meeting for Walkin by Chief Keef. According to analysis by English, beat us intelligence data 5G speeds. For Q4 2021 C50 Lexus details at tmobile.com. Hyundai

0:32

has a wide range of electrified Vehicles

0:34

starting with a twenty two Tucson in

0:36

Santa Fe plug-in hybrid V's,

0:38

you can use electric when you wanted and

0:40

gas when you need it with a charging

0:42

influx of ways to fuel up Tucson.

0:45

Or Santa Fe plug-in hybrid reviews mean.

0:47

You don't have to choose between style or function

0:49

and power or range and get

0:51

both with a plug-in hybrid. EV

0:53

learn more at usa.com.

1:00

The ninety nine percent invisible.

1:02

I'm Roman Mars as

1:05

you fly into Pearson Airport in Toronto,

1:07

you can see Canada's largest city

1:10

take shape beneath you downtown.

1:12

There is a dense core of tall

1:14

glass. He buildings along the of

1:16

Lake Ontario outside of that

1:18

short single family homes

1:21

sprawl out in every direction. This

1:24

is the view reporter Jake over and

1:26

saw his window. Has he moved to Canada

1:28

in 2019 in my head.

1:30

I knew exactly where I wanted to

1:32

live a real big city apartment,

1:34

like the classic Brownstone. Walk-ups.

1:36

You might see in New York or the three-story

1:39

Stone apartment buildings with iron staircase.

1:41

As you see in Montreal. I had this

1:43

romantic notion of living in one of

1:45

those early 20th century Apartments,

1:47

you know, great like, seeing a little

1:49

exposed brick, maybe even

1:51

a nice fireplace. Is that really so much to

1:53

ask for their

1:54

first J. Struggle to find anything like

1:56

that dream apartment in Toronto instead

1:59

as a run.

2:00

I. Found myself looking at a loss of four

2:02

hundred square foot condos high

2:04

up in some shiny and solace towers

2:06

and some drink basement apartments

2:09

on the some rich person's house all.

2:11

Of these options are really expensive,

2:13

I kept wondering where all the low

2:15

rise apartment buildings, the kinds

2:18

of buildings you find in abundance in Montreal

2:20

or New York or Chicago.

2:22

Jay was looking for a middle ground and

2:25

not finding it something in between the

2:27

extremes of single family homes

2:29

and big generic condo towers,

2:32

but there just weren't a lot of middle

2:34

sized rental buildings in Toronto.

2:37

Lots of cities are in the same

2:39

boat as Toronto places like

2:41

Los Angeles's Seattle, Boston

2:43

and Vancouver. All of these cities

2:46

have a pronounced lack of mid sized

2:48

buildings right now, this is

2:50

one of the biggest sees for urban

2:52

planners, they even have a name for

2:54

it. The missing middle.

3:01

Then. "Term missing middle can be confusing,

3:03

it does not refer to middle class

3:05

housing, the missing middle is strictly about

3:08

architectural scale, the middle

3:10

in this case refers to a huge swath. Of housing

3:12

options, duplexes try complexus

3:14

townhouses, courtyard buildings and

3:17

low rise apartment buildings, buildings

3:19

of this size have an outsized

3:21

effect on the city cities with these

3:23

medium density housing options. Have

3:25

a lot of benefits for starters,

3:28

they're less expensive to live in cities

3:30

with lots of middle housing just have much choice

3:33

in the housing market.

3:34

The options are more diverse, they have more

3:36

robust neighborhoods and options for

3:38

families.

3:40

By. Contrast cities without middle housing

3:42

tend to be harder for pretty

3:44

much everyone except for the wealthy and

3:46

they tend to be more segregated, so

3:48

it's easy to see why does some. Conflation

3:51

between the missing middle and the lack

3:53

of middle income housing options, the

3:55

to are absolutely related. The

3:57

on those missing middle is pretty extreme.

4:00

And the main culprit for this is a

4:02

I hope you're excited early.

4:04

twentieth century zoning laws

4:07

In. The late eighteen hundreds there was a big wave

4:09

of immigration, two cities across North America

4:12

in Toronto, there was already and establish population

4:14

of British immigrants, but as new wave

4:16

included. A lot of Eastern European

4:18

immigrants, new multi unit tenement

4:21

buildings cropped up the house these new people,

4:24

but there was a backlash against these new immigrants

4:26

and in nineteen twelve Toronto. Band apartment

4:28

buildings in most of the city.

4:30

Then. Ban was an early version of

4:33

exclusionary zoning the kind of residential

4:35

zoning were large swathe of urban centers

4:38

are reserved for single family homes

4:40

and only single family homes

4:43

cities across. North America were passing

4:45

these kinds of zoning laws, and they were driven

4:47

by a false perception that apartment buildings

4:50

with tens of iniquity.

4:52

They were often referred to as French

4:54

flats. There was a kind

4:57

of. I see I shouldn't over

4:59

French nice ways, dubious

5:02

morality.

5:03

This is Richard Dennis, he's Professor

5:05

Emeritus at University College London and

5:07

he's kind of the historian of

5:09

apartments in Toronto. Developers

5:12

at the time with trying to associate

5:14

their buildings with European class and

5:16

luxury instead, they were met with

5:19

unhinged accusations of immorality.

5:22

Richard Dennis says this is taste

5:24

for apartment buildings in the early twentieth

5:26

century was based on racist

5:28

and sexist attitudes that were reflected

5:31

in the media.

5:32

Then. Eighty two of the Canadian architect and

5:34

build U.S. wrote successive

5:36

editorials up where

5:38

he condemned them and he

5:40

condemned them on these grounds that

5:43

U.S. women would have nothing to do.

5:45

And they would kind of go off the rails,

5:47

the newspaper articles about apartments

5:49

at this time, off wilds, I dug

5:52

up a bunch and there are lots of references

5:54

to how. Apartments or unsanitary and

5:56

poll for the morals of the city, there's this

5:58

quote here from the globe. The newspaper Nineteen

6:01

Twelve.

6:03

Toronto must looked we're building laws or

6:05

she will be overrun with a plague

6:07

of disease, breeding tenements and apartment

6:09

houses and quick.

6:11

The time Canada as elites were largely

6:13

British Toronto's puritanical

6:15

wasps was scared these apparently

6:17

filthy apartments would be too tempting

6:20

for nice British families, and

6:22

I also.

6:23

Alluded to the idea of rice

6:26

suicide and,

6:28

the fear was that if people went

6:30

and lived in an apartment The

6:32

like never become parents because they'd

6:35

find that life was on the one hand so comfortable

6:38

but. also spicer lee relatively

6:41

constricted I

6:43

would never start a family and that's

6:45

where you would get this idea of rice suicide,

6:47

the birthright would decline and

6:50

British families would be overtaken

6:52

by immigrant families.

6:55

Then. Be clear these articles

6:57

don't reflect the reality of

7:00

Watt's apartments were like in Toronto

7:02

early, apartment buildings were actually aimed

7:04

at the city's elites the first two

7:07

were built around. The turn of the century and

7:09

was so luxurious that in a loss

7:11

of the units they didn't have kittens you're

7:13

expected to order meals from the building's

7:15

restaurants, they will. Often called

7:18

apartment hotels and they were marketed

7:20

to the great and the, good but

7:22

apartment living was at odds with how to run a

7:24

wanted to be seen well on.

7:27

The one hand it said this view

7:29

itself as the city of, home

7:31

moms and a city, of homes

7:34

meant single family

7:36

dwellings and homeownership

7:39

Toronto was growing rapidly it.

7:41

Went from two hundred thousand people at the turn

7:43

of the century to half a. million in nineteen

7:45

twenty with that developer

7:47

started buying a plan to build apartments

7:50

but they faced fierce resistance from the city

7:53

including smear campaigns They.

7:56

And to stress, you know the either

7:58

the architect. Or the

8:00

developers as got links

8:02

to either to the United States

8:05

or to Montreal.

8:08

If you from Toronto or some incredibly

8:10

slanderous accusations so

8:12

there was a kind of tension between the people

8:15

who saw the future of the city

8:18

as. being that kind of metropolitan

8:20

center which would attract people

8:23

who wanted luxury housing

8:25

but perhaps not just luxury suburban

8:28

housing bus a downtown

8:30

apartment where they were close to things

8:32

to entertainment and to at

8:35

those kinds of activities

8:37

Though apartment buildings have one

8:39

vision of an urban center, but

8:41

it was at odds with another vision of

8:43

Toronto as a city of homes.

8:46

Thanks in between most people and

8:49

the people who saw so on South as

8:51

a nice suburban domestic paradise

8:54

where everybody would have their own little

8:56

plot out in more and

8:58

more distant suburbs. These

9:00

attitudes prevailed across North America

9:02

and lead to a whole bunch of cities

9:05

banning apartment buildings and wealthy neighborhoods,

9:07

this movement was driven by the chief planner

9:10

of St. Louis, a man named Harland

9:12

Bartholomew.

9:14

Follow me was the architect of single

9:16

username in St. Louis and he was

9:18

hired by cities across North America

9:20

like Memphis, Chattanooga, Rochester

9:22

and even Vancouver to design

9:25

restrictive zoning policies. When

9:27

explaining his policies Bartholomew

9:29

was explicitly racist this

9:31

is a direct quote Bartholomew.

9:34

said his plan in st louis was to

9:36

preserve the more desirable residential

9:39

neighborhoods and to prevent movement

9:41

into salina residential districts

9:44

weeks in the to people

9:45

What I'm you had a big influence on urban

9:48

planners across the continent, but one

9:50

city went above and beyond with restrictive

9:52

zoning. Go! The

9:56

nineteen twelve the city pass by law, sixty

9:58

one which band. All apartment buildings

10:01

in residential areas and the time

10:03

most apartment buildings were a few stories

10:05

online.

10:06

Kind of buildings. We would call middle housing

10:08

today. The Bi-Lo included

10:10

a list of streets in buildings

10:13

with so bitten and that list

10:15

included pretty much every street

10:17

in Toronto, except for the largest

10:19

commercial Avenues on those streets.

10:21

All you could build with detached

10:23

single-family homes. Lots

10:26

of private developers actually found

10:28

a way to off Toronto's on the

10:30

apartment Asteria, including one

10:32

man named Alfred horse. Oh,

10:35

as bought a plot of land in downtown Toronto

10:37

and basically threatened to build apartments there

10:40

until the neighbors bought it for. This

10:43

is up.

10:44

characteristic Which happened several times

10:46

after ninety know five in other buildings

10:49

were basically developers threatened

10:51

to make to a development and,

10:54

then might persuade the other local

10:56

residents the well by. The

10:58

land instead nikos promoted an inflated

11:01

price so you make

11:03

your money without having to do anything at all,

11:06

having done this once the then

11:08

promptly burnley's then lump on

11:10

the other side of other road which was also

11:12

a vacant corner law

11:17

These. Are not lot that Alford Hawes made

11:19

good on his threat to build an apartment building

11:22

in Toronto, which he called Spur Dinah

11:24

Gardens, it was only the fourth apartment

11:26

building ever. Constructed in the city and

11:28

it received real push back, the

11:30

city denied Hawes a permit and even

11:33

rushed to a bylaw in an effort to stop as

11:35

construction but Hard didn't. Care

11:37

he started buildings botanic gardens without a permit,

11:40

he ignored the by law and somehow

11:42

he got away with it.

11:44

In. Fact: hose apartment building is

11:46

still there and it's now the oldest

11:48

in use apartment building in the city

11:51

I actually had a chance to check it out and it's

11:53

an incredible. Historical artifacts:

11:55

A low rise apartment building Toronto

11:57

before the city band these types of building.

12:00

It's. The kind of place think I would have been everywhere

12:02

in Toronto if it weren't for exclusionary

12:04

zoning Hi,

12:08

Hi nice to meet you, where

12:10

I found out the. Building is for

12:13

stories high with reddish brown break

12:15

at go back classic Pre War look, with

12:17

bay window elegant detailing

12:19

from is unusual striped effects in

12:21

the stone, the ground floor. , the

12:25

stairs says sort of sixty very in Alabama

12:27

kind of wanna see the age of elevators and room

12:29

for to, in a Soviet

12:33

pretty old school on Phoenix. Like to see. and like

12:35

at this

12:37

is charlotte mickey and she's kind of the

12:39

unofficial historian of spur dinah gardens

12:42

since you kindly let me have my nose around the building

12:45

The around the house also you learn

12:47

something. so we're talking about the glass

12:50

so

12:51

I think when the most this is more like

12:53

the kind of place I wanted to find when

12:55

I moved here it's a low rise

12:57

apartment with character and community

13:00

do. you feel like you have a sense of community within

13:02

the building yes we do absolutely no

13:04

we'll help each other out we all know each other Then.

13:09

thoughtfully Designed it's every and

13:12

bright, not a toll, the piece

13:14

of amorality and disease that those newspapers

13:16

depicted in fact, this building

13:18

was marketed as the city's more privileged

13:20

residence that's still. True today

13:22

it's more than a little out of my price range

13:25

and where does this go back there are so?

13:27

this is stepping off the back side

13:30

of the kitten as a little faster or faster full

13:32

season comes to there are some sushi

13:34

around it loops right brown's ferry others

13:37

to others internet and for the whole issue

13:39

i mean now that the since

13:42

The botanic gardens is not affordable housing,

13:44

in fact, it's pretty expensive to rent there today.

13:47

Little held in doesn't necessarily mean cheaper

13:50

housing, but one of the reasons that it's so

13:52

expensive is because there's

13:54

not enough middle housing the go around

13:57

Toronto could have had similar buildings

13:59

across the city.

14:00

This. Building would not be so remarkable

14:02

in many other cities like Chicago

14:04

or New York, but be a palm

14:06

and fan of nineteen twelve stop developers

14:08

from building all kinds of apartments.

14:11

The nice, expensive places like this

14:13

for the city's wealthy and fashionable residents,

14:15

but also the kind of middle housing

14:18

that's affordable for middle class families.

14:20

The Donna Gardens didn't kick off a trend of rogue

14:22

developers define the bylaws and putting up

14:25

apartment buildings everywhere because after

14:27

by law sixty one past city

14:29

planners work finished with their war

14:31

on apartment buildings.

14:35

Toronto expanded outward in the Sixties

14:37

City Planners designated residential

14:39

neighborhoods as in violence, meaning

14:42

they couldn't be touched by new development.

14:44

The only thing you can build their a single

14:47

family homes. There was a real

14:49

statement of do not mess with our neighborhoods

14:52

on. the city land use map these inviolate

14:55

neighborhoods with colored in yellow

14:57

That's. Why, for years, Toronto has had something

14:59

called the Yellow Belt, a sea of neighborhoods

15:01

where new development was limited to detached

15:04

single family homes, according to house

15:06

divided a book about. Toronto's missing middle,

15:08

the yellow belt in Toronto, is more than twice

15:11

the size of Manhattan.

15:12

This yellow belt zoning stops Toronto

15:14

from building more middle housing that's

15:17

why we don't find a duplex or a low rise

15:19

walk up on every corner and that missing

15:21

middle in Toronto has real consequences

15:23

for the city.

15:25

Orbiter. Say the lack of middle housing and

15:27

Toronto has led to a divided city

15:29

if all you build our single family

15:31

homes that makes lots of residential neighborhoods

15:34

on affordable, historically middle.

15:36

Housing has been disproportionately useful

15:38

for immigrant families and single women.

15:41

Apartments provided women with the opportunity to

15:44

access affordable housing more independently

15:46

still was single touched housing

15:48

or even semi touch housing, a woman

15:50

only be able to access that if they were living

15:53

as a domestic servant are they were a wife.

15:55

Cheryl Case is one of the editors of the book

15:57

House divided, she says, "The Missing"

16:00

Middle has led to economic but also

16:02

racial segregation in Toronto.

16:04

The limit the Middle has always been a race

16:06

issue so provinces if you can

16:08

actually looked into Thorn Press Village

16:10

uses a exclusively. detached

16:12

neighborhood that was built an eye

16:14

tobacco

16:15

Then. Neighborhood Cheryl is talking about

16:17

was one of the first real suburban

16:19

communities built in Toronto in the nineteen

16:22

forties, but it could be almost

16:24

anywhere in the yellow belt it's large.

16:27

Single family home, surrounded by

16:29

trees and greenery, you wouldn't know

16:31

you're in a huge North American Muslim plus

16:33

and.

16:34

In this neighborhood and people

16:36

had to apply to buy housing there and the,

16:40

to the war plan explained why they are applying

16:42

to by holding their in a very directly

16:44

explain that they're buying that housing so they could,. escape

16:48

the diversity of the have any for her

16:50

Learning might have been designed to protect

16:52

these neighborhoods from change, but

16:55

several says that even they suffer

16:57

while the city as a whole grows these

16:59

neighborhoods a actually losing population.

17:03

A part of a broader picture right about

17:05

living healthily and having a healthy communities

17:07

so right now and city of Toronto,

17:10

you have schools holding all

17:12

across the city because you to neighborhoods for the

17:14

haven't seen any growth happening in them.

17:17

You might assume a lot of the city's housing

17:19

was could be explained by a lack of new construction.

17:22

That anyone who lives in Toronto knows the

17:24

city is building a lot of giant condo

17:26

towers. In fact between

17:28

nineteen ninety six and twenty sixteen

17:31

Toronto, build housing at one

17:33

and a half times the rate of population

17:36

growth

17:37

The read these condos to provide more housing

17:39

and bring prices down and have to think that

17:41

it helps a little, but these new condos

17:44

sex the city's housing woes. Toronto

17:46

is still way behind in terms of housing

17:49

availability, and the legacy of banning

17:51

most buildings that would have made up the missing middle

17:53

is partially to blame. The report

17:55

found and twenty Toronto had three

17:58

hundred and sixty housing units for ever. One

18:00

thousand residents that's well below

18:02

the average for cities in G seven countries,

18:04

which is four hundred and seventy one

18:06

units for every thousand residents, and

18:09

those units that do exist in Toronto

18:11

aren't bringing prices down. The

18:13

one bedroom apartment, their rents for over two

18:15

thousand dollars a month and that number

18:18

it keeps going up, these units are

18:20

not putting downward pressure on the price of a

18:22

detached house either, which is around

18:24

two million dollars.

18:26

So me a big problem with these

18:28

new condo towers is this, they

18:30

only really serve a very

18:32

narrow range of people. Most

18:34

of the new residents is being built a

18:36

luxury I have, you can a the aqua

18:38

that luxury condos that

18:41

only have one bedroom and are totally

18:43

unsuitable for families, they also

18:45

come with the monthly fees that

18:47

makes them unaffordable for lots of people. Those

18:50

small units only serve one type

18:53

of market young. single

18:55

professionals who wants a clean low effort

18:57

place to live anyone else is

18:59

kind of crowded outs and in

19:01

the current market that's all that's gets built

19:05

About the Nama blonder she's an

19:07

architect and a planner, and she runs

19:09

a company called Smart Density, she's

19:11

all about the missing middle, she wants

19:13

the city to be filling in those density gas.

19:16

I do believe Condon.

19:18

They belong in the city, say, belonging

19:21

next to expenses infrastructure

19:23

such as transit, I I've nothing

19:25

against them. The it.

19:28

It seems like we're building a lot

19:31

of units and they don't reflect

19:33

the diversity that is currently needed

19:36

in the city.

19:39

When Nama says diversity here,

19:41

she's referencing the types of units

19:43

that a belt. I've been scouring

19:46

floor plans for proposed and in

19:48

progress developments and they're largely

19:50

tiny one bedrooms or bachelor's in

19:52

studios. I want to call it

19:54

misguided, but it's not really

19:56

guy did at all developers

19:58

just can't build. The jail.

20:02

Then. Thing is there are developers who want

20:04

to build middle housing, but in

20:06

most places it's still illegal

20:08

to build anything except for single family homes

20:11

and in the places where you. Can put up taller buildings

20:13

all the incentives push you in the direction

20:16

of giant condo towers Jason.

20:18

elam john is a mortgage broker and

20:21

a developer in toronto he wants

20:23

to build affordable housing and communities

20:25

he cares about like toronto's little

20:27

jamaica neighborhood

20:29

You know, like my personal vision would be

20:31

kind of cool if it turned into a, a massive

20:34

like business Commerce, help for

20:36

you. No black individuals

20:38

like that thing, significant missing, mistletoe

20:41

hours of mix of condos affordable

20:43

ownership commercial, space

20:45

Office Buildings. All on that

20:47

strip, Jason bought the

20:49

site in little Jamaica. A couple of years ago. He

20:52

wanted to kick-start the process of revitalizing

20:54

the area and by providing affordable mid-rise

20:57

apartment buildings. so I wanted.

21:00

To say, like all know, you can do a projects

21:02

that is could serve, Rescind Middle, and you

21:04

can on make a little he could make

21:06

some money into provide jobs

21:08

for. Individuals and in also inspire

21:11

people to do this themselves, but

21:13

decent stream mean never become reality

21:15

students as every time he tried to get

21:18

financing for a low rise apartment complex.

21:20

He's told by investors to build condos

21:22

or single family homes and stuff.

21:28

Then. About to do a lot of convincing on the project

21:30

itself, because, you know, most people

21:32

would tell me just do a nice single family

21:35

dwelling and build it and sell it. For to

21:37

boy five million or something right, so that

21:39

kind of where everybody wants you to go,

21:41

so it's like no matter where you turn in

21:43

a sense he will be. Like, oh, no, why

21:45

don't you just do this? Even if

21:47

you do get the financing be approval process

21:50

can take years and there are incredibly

21:53

high development sees, in fact,

21:55

the city just proposed an increase to those

21:57

fees of forty nine percent.

22:00

Take the same amount of time together hundred

22:02

unit building approved as it does a ten unit

22:04

building and their a siege fees associated

22:06

with it either way. That destroys

22:09

the already narrow profit margin

22:11

on the small, a building a bigger project

22:13

has a bigger margin and can swallow the

22:15

season delays more easily. Politicians

22:18

in Ontario have done almost nothing

22:21

to address this. The provincial government

22:23

led by Doug Ford recently introduced

22:25

a housing bill, but it ignores single-family

22:28

zoning entirely that

22:31

might change City. planners

22:33

have just drafted an amendment

22:35

to allow up to a four plex

22:37

and protected neighborhoods. It's

22:40

a pretty conservative plan with lots

22:42

of caveats and it's a long

22:44

way from reaching the city council for approval.

22:47

Of course model isn't the only city with this

22:49

missing middle problems and but other cities

22:51

with a missing middle have. tried to take

22:53

concrete steps to six in cities

22:55

like portland oregon which in

22:57

recent decades has tried to make the city more

23:00

livable for renters

23:01

The meal trauma worked with the mayor of Portland

23:04

to pass owning reform. In in the process,

23:06

she became public enemy number one

23:09

for Nimby's, the people who don't

23:11

want new apartment developments in their neighborhood.

23:14

There were campaigns cropping

23:16

up and different neighborhoods across

23:18

the city on that we're

23:20

really, if we want to be transparent

23:22

kind of firmly rooted in nimbyism,

23:24

not in my backyard. What

23:26

do you think there was scared of?

23:29

To be honest with each day, I think they were scared

23:31

of. Low income people moving

23:34

into their neighborhoods and whatever ah,

23:37

serial types or narrative a The

23:40

media consumption and lack

23:42

of education and lack of interaction with

23:44

people that are different than them about.

23:47

who they believe those people are and what they would

23:49

do to their neighborhoods

23:51

The Mail says portland used to have

23:53

the same exclusionary zoning laws of Toronto

23:56

and changing them was a real uphill

23:58

fight for Mayor. The hails.

24:01

And what was so ironic is that many

24:04

of Charlie's neighbors. They were the ones

24:06

and the people most vocal in

24:08

terms of then nimbyism group

24:11

answer that was really challenging

24:13

for Charlie to be unable to

24:15

keep even talk with his neighbors about his

24:17

vision. The we saw

24:20

on a lot of China's manifestations

24:23

of narratives, air and

24:25

small campaigns advocating

24:28

for status quo.

24:30

The change the law camille had to build

24:32

a coalition of people herself, people

24:34

who weren't wealthy homeowners, so

24:37

she went out in the community and gathered herself

24:39

a steering committee that looks a lot more

24:41

like Portland, it was such as

24:44

Visual. Kind of.

24:46

Howard's for me to be in

24:48

that room and see so clearly,

24:50

yes, there are older white folks

24:52

with privilege sitting on one side of the room

24:54

stairs, developers huddled in a corner.

24:57

Gaming and then there's these

24:59

housing.

25:00

The kids that represent such a diverse

25:02

kind as an illustration

25:04

of Portland.

25:06

They took a lot of work and a lot

25:08

of politics, but the bill passed

25:11

and twenty twenty, it ended single

25:13

family zoning and allow things like

25:15

caught it's clusters and small apartment buildings

25:17

almost everywhere. You. Want to

25:19

tear down and old relic of a house and

25:22

turn it into a four plex you can do that

25:24

now, congratulations where they used

25:26

to be one home now, therefore. You've

25:28

created some densities made some money

25:30

and today's Portland is an oasis

25:33

of affordable missing middle housing

25:35

right camille I. wish i could

25:37

say that say oh damn

25:39

never mind so why not what's the holdup

25:41

was portland's missing middle

25:43

The problem I think with our process

25:45

is yes, zoning

25:47

codes go into effect, but the

25:50

interpretation of that zoning code by

25:52

developers even non

25:54

profit developers community driven

25:56

developers means that

25:59

and there's A. The calculation that

26:01

play. My to the cost of way I

26:03

can we actually tree eight. The thing,

26:06

and so what I would have loved to see

26:08

is more incentives to

26:10

actualize what is being. Proposed

26:12

or what was proposed?

26:14

Was only reform isn't a silver bullet

26:16

for housing crisis, it is a big

26:19

first step American cities like Minneapolis

26:21

and Seattle have also recently

26:23

banned exclusive single families zoning

26:26

to address this problem at all.

26:28

There is a different way of planning a city

26:30

like Toronto. Nama Blunder

26:32

has a vision. One more closely

26:34

resembles the European cities

26:37

I'm familiar with.

26:38

I moved to Toronto ah eight

26:40

years ago and, one is

26:42

my says so Good.

26:45

impression ah of the city

26:47

was, "I took the subway's day, we

26:49

got out and steps away

26:51

from the subway there are neighborhood

26:54

of single family houses, see

26:57

of single family houses" And

26:59

for someone who you know I wasn't born

27:01

in North America it's a strange

27:04

feeling. are you You

27:07

just don't get it right, he eats if you're

27:09

in downtown or steps away from the. The highway

27:12

and you have the suburban philly

27:14

or. Instead of an urban feeling great

27:17

having. this Anything you know any purchase

27:20

about Hi, it's not just about housing stock,

27:22

it's also about operate. Then, if you don't,

27:24

you know, for families anything middle of

27:27

income or the missing middle of the

27:29

units that he did currently don't

27:31

exist.

27:32

Even with different zoning laws and a lot

27:35

of political will, it will still take

27:37

years of planning and development

27:39

rate new apartments for rent or snake takeover.

27:42

Though. At this point in the story I

27:44

have to make a confession against the odds

27:46

when I moved to Toronto, I actually did

27:49

end up finding a woke up I'm on the. Second

27:51

floor of an apartment building know exposed

27:53

break, but I do have high ceilings and

27:55

a beautiful view of a beer store parking

27:58

lot. The even know of my neighbors. Sometimes

28:00

we sit on the porch and drink wine, have

28:03

a deserves a special mention for feeding my cat

28:05

when I'm away. There's just enough space

28:07

for me about four hundred and fifty square

28:09

feet birth, I can step up my door

28:11

without having to take an elevator and

28:13

immediately and next to a deli and some

28:15

cute shop. It's not perfect,

28:18

but I love living here and I wish

28:20

everyone could find a place that suits them.

28:23

Then. Apartment is in one of the historic

28:25

neighborhoods of Toronto, part of the Yellow

28:27

Belt, but there are hints of how the city

28:29

could have looked without these zoning laws

28:32

is an. Area where the Victorian and

28:34

the early twentieth century buildings and been

28:36

preserved.

28:38

I live in the cabbage town neighborhoods, it

28:40

has this kind of toytown vibe, lots

28:43

of red brick houses with steeply

28:45

slow proves and ornamental stained

28:47

glass windows. The even have

28:49

a few walk of apartment buildings like mine

28:51

some actual missing middle. These

28:54

are all built before the ban on

28:56

my building was finished in nineteen twelve

28:58

right under the wire, My place

29:01

is kind of odd because from the outside

29:03

it looks like a regular detached

29:05

house, but I checked and it's

29:08

always been Apartments. It's almost

29:10

as if the Builder was trying to hide its true

29:12

nature. The walk up entrance

29:14

is a even hidden around the back. Walking

29:18

through the residential streets of Jays neighborhood.

29:20

You can see Tiny examples

29:22

of what the city might have been like without

29:24

exclusionary zoning, adding

29:27

middle housing and residential neighborhoods can

29:29

help make us any more functional.

29:31

It allows for a bigger diversity

29:33

of housing stock, and for families, and middle-class

29:35

people to stay in town and add

29:37

to the character of a neighborhood. But

29:39

there needs to be political will

29:41

and real effort to make it possible. When

29:44

will housing is effectively banned

29:46

for 100 years, a lot

29:48

of deliberate. And careful planning is

29:50

necessary to undo that damage

29:53

to the cities ecosystem. No

29:56

amount of zoning can freeze a place in time.

29:58

The choice is

30:00

The neighborhoods in Toronto will change

30:02

not's. s The city

30:04

tackle it housing crisis and create a

30:06

vibrant place where lots of different kinds

30:08

of people can live. Or does

30:10

it become a suburban sprawl? On

30:13

and on paving. over the landscape

30:16

for ever

30:20

More fun was only Mars after this.

30:32

Sometimes. You just don't feel motivated

30:34

to work out or you don't feel like you have time to

30:36

federal work out into your day, Peloton

30:38

has a team of world-class class ready

30:40

to. Motivate you: Twenty four seven Peloton

30:43

instructors are highly trained fitness pros who

30:45

motivate you to every workout,

30:47

choose from thousands of live and on-demand

30:49

classes from cycling and strength training

30:52

to. Goga and running you're more likely

30:54

to stick with a workout that you enjoy

30:57

your, more likely to stick with a workout routine

30:59

you enjoy, Peloton makes every class

31:01

font nothing. Gets you moving like perfect

31:04

song, and every peloton class is

31:06

that to an incredible play les plus

31:08

telethon fits seamlessly into your life, whether

31:10

you're looking for a ten minute upper. Body stretch between

31:13

calls or a forty minute run before

31:15

bed, which is. demented forty

31:18

minutes running for a better shape but if that's what you

31:20

like telethon hasn't for you in

31:22

one of the best parts you'll never have an

31:24

awkward encounter in the locker room again

31:27

i use peloton and all kinds of ways i ride

31:29

the bike but also like if i can coordinate the trail

31:31

run coordinate come back i'll do a prince core

31:33

workout and then restorative yoga

31:36

which is just yoga fancy way of laying down

31:38

but it's apartment and every worker right

31:40

now is the perfect time to try out peloton

31:43

the peloton my face is now five

31:45

hundred dollars less it's best price including

31:48

free delivery and set up and there

31:50

are more game changing places available on

31:52

the original peloton bike and peloton

31:54

track is one peloton dot com

31:57

to learn more that's one peloton

31:59

dot com

32:06

A. Mattress design can improve your quality

32:08

of life with the range of mattress designs

32:10

from sought for you can find a mattress

32:12

designed for your sleep style and get

32:14

the quality of. Sleep you need thought

32:17

was luxury mattresses are designed with comfort

32:19

support in customizable options to

32:21

suit every type of sleeper they even

32:23

have nine mattress designs from

32:25

latex to innerspring to. Memory foam to

32:27

Adjustable Air Sofa has a mattress

32:29

for you once you find your perfect mattress,

32:32

your good night's will become even

32:34

better morning's stop for free white

32:36

glove delivery is. Designed to be convenient for

32:38

you, they take care of delivery, setup and

32:40

old mattress removal when you order

32:42

from sofa, they make your bed fresh,

32:45

your mattress is delivered by hand. And set

32:47

up in the room of your choice every thought

32:49

that comes with a one hundred and eighty day trial period,

32:51

and every thoughtful comes with a fifteen year

32:53

warranty now. That's a reason

32:56

to quit year old mattress and try and offer

32:58

now you can get two hundred dollars off your purchase

33:01

of one thousand dollars or more at

33:03

thoughtful dot.com. com Slash invisible,

33:05

that's's s w'a a t v a dot

33:08

com slash invisible.

33:15

Building. An online presence can feel daunting

33:17

from creating a website to managing sales

33:20

and engaging with your audience, it is a

33:22

lot and the first step is always

33:24

just getting started both. Squarespace, it

33:26

easy SquareSpace, is the only

33:28

all/in/one tool you need to build your brand

33:30

and grow your business online, stand

33:33

out from the Crown with SquareSpace is best

33:35

in class website. Templates that you can

33:37

customize to pay your needs, SquareSpace

33:39

will also help you stand out in any inbox

33:42

with eye catching email campaigns that will

33:44

collect email subscribers and turn them.

33:46

into loyal customers, whether you so

33:48

physical or digital products, SquareSpace

33:50

has the tools you need to start selling online,

33:53

it all comes with SquareSpace, this powerful analytics

33:55

and integrated as E. O to help you achieve

33:57

the growth of a good. squarespace

34:00

At com slash the invisible for a free trial and

34:02

when you're ready to launch, use the Africa invisible

34:04

to save ten percent of your first purchase of

34:06

a website or domain at SquareSpace, dot.com,

34:08

com slash invisible and code invisible.

34:12

Article.

34:16

Has launched a new line of outdoor products

34:18

for Summer Twenty Two Think

34:20

oversized statement loungers, streamlined

34:23

dining pieces and easy to style sofa

34:25

for all your backyard knees with forty.

34:27

Two new pieces plus U.S. election: The Best

34:30

Sellers From Season's Past article

34:32

has what you need, outfit the deck of your

34:34

dreams system or article combines

34:36

the curation of a boutique. Furniture store with

34:38

the comfort and simplicity of shopping online

34:41

articles, Team of Designers focuses on beautifully

34:43

crafted pieces, quality materials

34:45

and durable construction with article:

34:48

"You also get fair prices, you" Save up to thirty percent

34:50

over traditional retail prices article

34:52

is able to keep their prices so low by

34:54

cutting out the middleman and selling directly to you

34:56

there's no show rooms. There's no salespeople,

34:59

there's no retail markups, fast affordable

35:01

shipping is available across the U.S.A and Canada

35:04

and is free on orders over nine hundred

35:06

and ninety nine dollars I am telling. Your friends,

35:08

if you have the space, can't your system quality

35:11

leak looking outdoor furniture that you'd

35:13

love to sit on so you can take your laptop outside

35:16

and just enjoy the. Sun part of the

35:18

day, I highly recommend that makes life

35:20

better, article is offering our listeners

35:23

fifty dollars off their first purchase of one hundred dollars

35:25

or more to clean visit. Article: Dot.com com

35:27

slash nine and the discount will be automatically

35:30

applied at checkout at the article of Dot.com com

35:32

slash the numbers nine to get

35:34

fifty dollars off your. First purchase of one

35:36

hundred dollars or more.

35:44

The I'm back with Jay Coburn we're talking about zoning

35:46

laws yeah the most exciting topic

35:48

there is much worse is

35:50

exciting than an important same.

35:52

it sinks or lives i think it's exciting

35:55

and that's why i have to spend half an hour talking about

35:57

this i totally agree and

35:59

action Then. I wanted to talk about one of the most

36:02

insane examples of Toronto City

36:04

planning I found out about this from an article

36:06

in the Toronto Star by their affordable housing

36:08

reports. Of Victoria Gibson be just

36:10

as really great work by the way just amazing

36:13

coverage of housing in the city where it's really important

36:16

but, this story is dumb not

36:18

because. He wrote it, because

36:20

the contents like it's written

36:22

very intelligently but the story itself

36:25

is depressingly dumb and

36:27

it really just makes you feel like what's going

36:29

on in the city Tell me more I'm

36:32

prepared to be depressed by something so dumb

36:34

serve. as a seventeen unit apartment building

36:37

in the forest hill neighborhood that the

36:39

city insists is actually just

36:41

to semi detached houses we will use

36:43

of me a picture here and it's yeah it's

36:46

yeah beautiful prewar building as usual

36:48

bay window pop out of men a break his

36:50

lovely you totally imagine totally bunch

36:52

of people within their seventeen families to

36:54

be exact so exact previous owner

36:56

decided they wanted to turn this apartment

36:59

building into to semi detached houses

37:01

and the city approved city but they never

37:03

finished conversing it the houses so

37:06

it's an apartment building but

37:08

legally nobody can actually live

37:10

in the apartments it's just empty

37:12

boarded up and derelict saw that

37:14

has been for over a decade the owners

37:16

just aren't allowed to use it for what it

37:18

was intended for which is as

37:21

an apartment building but like it's definitely

37:23

an apartment building there's no way you can look at

37:25

this and the it's anything other than

37:27

an apartment building like if

37:29

you look at it it's four storeys high as

37:32

individual balconies the individual units

37:34

this is not to semi detached houses

37:36

it's only ever been used as apartments and

37:38

it was used was apartments from when it was built

37:41

all the way up until two thousand and six

37:43

Why? likely can't say use it as

37:45

it was intended to be built like is this

37:47

the zoning thing from the nineteen twelve

37:50

I'm like anti a barman loss well

37:52

kind of the. Street it's on wasn't

37:55

included in the nineteen twelve apartment

37:57

band, so it was built some time around

37:59

nine.

38:00

Then. And twenty three dish we don't

38:02

know exactly it's kind of vague when you look at the records

38:05

this, is a really small area around these apartments

38:07

by the way just. A few streets wide, but

38:09

because it got their pre that ban,

38:12

it had this thing called legal nonconforming

38:14

status, which means that as long as it's

38:17

continually use it

38:19

could. Continue to be an apartment building

38:21

and place that doesn't allow apartment buildings,

38:24

oh, so I think so it's the continually

38:26

and use part of really be as you hear like.

38:28

The previous owner wanted to things it

38:30

into two houses the tenant's laughter

38:32

were evicted and at some point

38:34

the building was technically not a new speakers,

38:37

and yeah and this. Is part of

38:39

why a lot of the city is actually getting

38:41

less dense by the way this isn't the only product

38:44

like that,'s the zoning and bylaws

38:46

do allow for removing? Housing options

38:48

and just reading over the Star article looks

38:51

like initially they wanted to do the opposite

38:53

and nearly double the number of units to thirty,

38:55

one but they change. Their minds

38:57

after a public consultation flight public

38:59

don't even know how to respond, to that reads

39:02

that they had reads big medium and would be wielded

39:04

them from that's exactly. what it means exactly

39:08

lot of people who already owned houses didn't

39:10

one of the people to live in apartments near

39:12

so they got approval to convert it

39:15

to suit houses knockdowns

39:17

of internal walls i'm not sure exactly how much

39:19

work that lead it inside but they never finished

39:21

the job instead they sold the property

39:24

and now this building is technically to

39:26

ridiculously big boarded up empty

39:28

houses so the people who bought that

39:30

property did they intend them

39:32

to turn them into apartments

39:35

or houses well them new owners

39:37

didn't like the to house thing so

39:39

they applied for a minor variants in the

39:41

by law to turn it back into apartments

39:43

so they were going into go through they really lengthy

39:45

process of consultations and city

39:47

approvals i felt like i mentioned

39:49

earlier it takes a really long time

39:52

and us house prices have risen really fast

39:54

They've instead decided they can just sell

39:56

the property and make their money that way instead.

40:00

That quote in the Star article from the owners

40:03

I'm. an apartment guy i like having

40:05

apartments and if we wanted to do things like

40:07

the houses which i could start on tomorrow it's

40:09

starting to make more sense that we should just

40:11

stop fighting and beating our head against

40:14

the ball to get apartments It.

40:17

is reminiscent of i'm Jason prisoner

40:19

interview jason elam john you know like

40:21

a certain point it stops making

40:23

sense trying to build apartments because

40:26

all the incentives are pushing people

40:28

to build either iraq

40:30

or nose or single family residences in

40:32

this case they can only built single family residences

40:35

but what's truly tragic about this because

40:38

there's already an apartment or it

40:42

does let it be in apartments yet it's

40:44

nuts and that's kind of why highlight wanted to

40:46

highlight this one particular case

40:48

you can't look at this building and expected

40:50

to be anything other than apartments

40:52

but apartments combination of byzantine municipal

40:55

nonsense and economics means there are

40:57

seventeen potential units just sitting

41:00

empty and forest hill who knows what the property

41:02

will end up actually being used for it's

41:04

on the market for ten point five million dollars right

41:07

now as far as i can tell he was both a four

41:09

million dollars ten years ago and that's

41:11

not ago bad return without really doing anything

41:14

and it's kind of depressing that this

41:16

turned out to be the best way for an investor

41:18

to make them money the buildings just an

41:20

asset not housing right but

41:22

it's taking up really valuable space

41:24

in really city with an acute housing crisis

41:27

In. Oil is another reminder

41:29

that the incentives are all pushing

41:32

the wrong behavior and people like we should be building

41:34

housing and all the economic incentives

41:36

and municipal bureaucracy should be. Like

41:38

putting people in that direction and it's really a same

41:40

when it doesn't happen, yeah, it's not just pushing

41:42

them in the wrong direction, it's prohibiting

41:45

them from going well we. Might call the right direction

41:47

now they're literally not allowed to make this apartment

41:50

building into apartments and died

41:52

since the area. It really is

41:54

well, thank you for that dumb depressing sorry

41:56

Jack, smith and

41:59

the whole day Is really eye-opening and I think

42:01

it will apply to a lot of people's vision of their own

42:03

son is and how to make them better, so thank you, thank

42:06

you, Roman, thank you for listening to my dumb depressing

42:08

story.

42:13

Ninety nine percent invisible was produced this week

42:15

by Jay Coburn, a researcher, it was

42:17

an been a lawyer edited by Crisper

42:19

Roubaix, Music Bear, director of Sound

42:22

Swan, Real Mix and Tech Bresson

42:24

by a meeting and ultra the fact checking my Grandma

42:26

Asia. You're going to bruiser

42:28

is too many hall kirk course and is the desert

42:30

director resident includes Vivian

42:32

Lay, martine gonzales Go rosenberg,

42:35

cause we're Johnson and it's Harold

42:37

Muslim and on station Deli own Sophia

42:40

Cluster. And me Roman

42:42

Mars.

42:45

Special thanks this week to Charlotte mickey and Jennifer

42:47

francs for their warm welcome mats, benign the gardens

42:50

into John Lawrence, editor of the Book House,

42:52

divided a great resource if you want to

42:54

know more about this issue. We

42:57

are part of the stature and Sirius XM

42:59

podcast family Snow had gore and

43:01

six blocks north in the Pandora

43:03

building in beautiful uptown,

43:07

Oakland, Calif. You.

43:09

Can bind the show, enjoy discussions about the stream Facebook, you

43:11

can tweet me at Rowan Mars in the show at

43:13

ninety nine P. I. org, we're on Instagram and

43:16

read it. To you can find links to other stitcher

43:18

shows I love as well as every past episode

43:20

of Ninety, Nine P. I. and Ninety,

43:23

Nine P.

43:36

But at about it, a boom you're listening to us, does your

43:38

bunk at from the series exam?