Presentation
Q&A (Answers only)
David Hulchanski is a distinguished professor in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto and keen observer of federal, provincial and local housing policy. He spoke to a standing room only crowd on Oct 3, on the topic of False Creek South’s legacy as a model community.
Full disclosure: David was my professor at planning school in the 1980s where he exploded the myth that low income renters were the priority of federal housing policy. He argued that most government largesse is directed towards homeowners, through tax incentives such as the capital gains tax exemption for principal residences. He also taught us that “the most affordable housing is existing housing”.
On Oct 3, Dr. Hulchanski contrasted the development of False Creek South and St. Lawrence in Toronto with the prevailing top-down urban renewal ethos of the 1960s. Reflecting the urban reform agenda which took control of City Council in the mid-1970s, the city employed a community development approach for False Creek South, priorizing social objectives such as mixed income and tenure, on publicly owned land and with citizens participation in the planning process.
Fast forward to today, Dr. Hulchanski asks rhetorically if the future is instead “smart” corporate owned neighbourhoods on public land? He suggests that rather than advancing novel ideas like Sidewalk Labs in Toronto, “dumb cities”, that is cities planned and built with best in class ideas, are preferred.
Drawing on his and others research on neighbourhood income change in Toronto and Canada’s large metropolitan areas which tell a story of growing suburbanization of poverty since 1970, Dr. Hulchanski suggested that a way forward for re-imagining False Creek South 40 years later could be to once again, priorize income mix in any future development or re-development.
What can we learn from the past? According to Dr. Hulchanski it was changing public sentiment which brought progressives to Vancouver Council in the 1970s and that ultimately led to the innovations that produced the highly livable neighbourhood we know and love. Likewise today, as False Creek South faces the prospect of “re-planning”, it is public sentiment that can and should drive political decisions.
By Margaret Eberle (The Clipper)