In the City: Majority of Torontonians want city to have more say in housing issues and new czar tackles affordable housing.
Elsewhere: Canada deals with a sluggish GDP, Oregon makes housing history in the United States and Berlin holds vote on big landlords.
Toronto
Majority of Torontonians polled want the city to have authority over housing issues (Toronto Star)
Nearly 70 per cent of respondents agree the municipal government should be doing more to address the housing crisis, while only one per cent think the city is already doing enough, according to the poll results.
Affordable housing becomes singular focus of Toronto’s new real estate czar (The Globe and Mail)
“It’s the burning platform,” said Brian Johnston, a former Mattamy Homes executive whose appointment was ratified by city council last month. “I think this organization will be measured on its success in that area. And the city will be measured, and the mayor will be measured. I think everybody’s got the message.”
Ousted CEO of Toronto Community Housing accused of 'undue influence' over contract (CBC)
"What I can tell you about it is that, through the process, Ms. Milsom exercised undue influence on the process and it did not follow our well-established procedures, policies and protocols to ensure integrity so that everybody who bids on a tender is fairly evaluated and has a fair chance of winning the award," he said.
Toronto has room to hike property taxes by 20% to fund city services, researchers say (CBC)
Across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, more than 20 municipalities "recorded higher average property taxes than Toronto," wrote the report's author, Frank Clayton, a senior research fellow at Ryerson University's Centre for Urban Research and Land Development.
Canada
Canadian House Prices To Grow Slowly For Years, Poll Of Experts Finds (Huffington Post)
While a mild price correction has already taken place in Toronto, Canada's largest city, and is underway in Vancouver, the latest survey of 20 analysts nationwide taken Feb 13-21 puts the chances of a national correction at just 20 per cent.
Weaker-than-expected GDP shows Canadian growth stalling (Bloomberg)
Canada’s economy practically came to a halt in the final three months of 2018, in a much deeper-than-expected slowdown that brings the underlying strength of the expansion into doubt.
CMHC sets target to make housing affordable for every Canadian by 2030 (CTV)
The target is one that the corporation had talked about with stakeholders for months as it took the lead on delivering most of the money in the federal government's 10-year, $40-billion housing strategy.
USA
Oregon Legislature passes nation’s first statewide rent control policy, eviction protections (Oregonian)
The bill would cap annual rent increases to 7 percent plus inflation throughout the state. It exempts new construction for 15 years, and landlords would be free to raise rent without any cap if renters leave of their own accord. Subsidized rent would also be exempt.
The New ‘Dream Home’ should Be a Condo (NY Times)
What if the next New American Home was a condo? And what if there was a new American dream, not of auto-dependent suburbia, but walkable urbanism?
Why Deborah Berke Loves Building in America’s Mid-Sized Cities (City Lab)
“I probably spend more time in places like Indianapolis, Louisville, Columbus, and Lexington than any other New Yorker you know,” Deborah Berke says inside the library of her firm’s office in Manhattan’s Flatiron District.
International
The Real Powerhouses That Drive the World’s Economy (City Lab)
But this obsession with nation-states does not fit the reality of today’s highly-clustered knowledge economy, centered in and around global cities. And, it’s not just individual cities and metropolitan areas that power the world economy. Increasingly, the real driving force is larger combinations of cities and metro areas called mega-regions.
Berlin set to hold referendum on banning big landlords and nationalising private rented housing (The Independent)
The proposed law would bar landlords with more than 3,000 homes in their portfolio from operating in the city – including the city’s biggest property company, Deutsche Wohnen AG.
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