Bay Street Wire

Toronto & Canada · Storyline

Toronto's Housing Crunch

What you need to know

Toronto is squeezed on every side of the housing math at once. The city's budget committee is weighing a property tax hike to avoid deferring TTC repairs, while rent and utilities keep outpacing wages even as grocery inflation cools. Council keeps reaching for development-charge relief as its go-to fix, but mid-year permit data shows the city on pace to miss its provincial housing target by roughly 40% regardless. Together, the pieces point to the same conclusion: no single lever — not fees, not transit spending, not one report — is moving the number on its own.

Updated July 12, 2026