CityLab Daily: Toronto Islands Are Idyllic Haven — Unless You Need to Move
Also today: The Pacific Northwest faces a new kind of earthquake risk, and YouTubers fuel a housing crunch in one of Europe’s tiniest nations.
A view of the Toronto skyline from a beach on Ward's Island, part of the Toronto Islands.
Photographer: Curtis Heinzl/Bloomberg
The Toronto Islands have been a hidden real estate gem for decades. To those who are selected by lottery, the community offers homes with a 10-minute ferry ride to downtown Toronto, scenic views and affordable home prices kept low by a trust. But as residents age, they are confronting a downside to the community’s alternative homeownership model: Prices that haven’t kept up with inflation make it hard to afford a new more senior-friendly home in Toronto’s hot housing market.
The Islands follow the model of a community land trust, which aims to maintain affordability indefinitely. Experts say these kinds of social housing solutions are needed to address an affordability crisis. But the Islands exemplify how residents may struggle or feel regrets when life circumstances change, Saritha Rai reports. Today on CityLab: These Island Homes Were an Affordable Dream – Until Residents Started to Age