[URBAN NOTE] "Affordable housing shortage hurts Toronto: Mayor Tory"

[rfmcdonald]

The Toronto Star's David Rider reports about how many Canadian mayors are concerned with housing.

Toronto’s affordable housing shortage is threatening employers’ ability to attract workers, Mayor John Tory said Thursday, demanding that federal parties offer solutions before the Oct. 19 election.

Tory’s comments came after strategizing with counterparts from Vancouver, Edmonton, Halifax, London and Kitchener on how to get affordable and social housing on the campaign radar.

Almost every day, Tory said, businesspeople warn that the costs of shelter — the average detached Toronto house was priced at more than $1 million last month — along with transit challenges are making it harder to recruit and keep staff.

“Businesses are figuring out that this is not sustainable,” Tory told reporters after the mayors’ meeting. “This will become more and more of a competitive disadvantage and a problem for jobs, if it’s allowed to continue.”