Cheryll Case had barely graduated from Ryerson University last year when she made a splash as an urban planner with a project that laid a map of the city’s zoning boundaries over census data.Her peers are still hailing the work that shows how vast tracts of Toronto are effectively overhoused, squeezing younger, less affluent residents into smaller areas.But rather than joining Toronto’s urban planning establishment, Case’s after-graduation encore is a project called Housing in Focus, which challenges the status quo in her chosen field.Using grants from the Laidlaw and McConnell foundations, Case, 23, organized a series of workshops, drawing about 140 participants from low-income areas — people she says have little say in how their neighbourhoods are developed — and asking for their ideas on how to make more affordable housing in vibrant, well-serviced communities.“My goal is to bring forward a conversation that communities have been wanting to have — the whole idea that the planning process should be serving those with the most needs. It’s to see how the planning process can best suit their interests — ensuring the conversation is welcoming to those communities,” she said.The ideas Case collected ranged from a waterfront marketplace in Etobicoke to new rules that would allow residents to convert their garages into homes — something that might provide more affordable shelter since it doesn’t involve buying more land.“As a planner trained to think a certain way, I have certain ideas of what good development looks like. Talking to these communities they had different ideas about really cool, neat ways to build complete neighbourhoods,” she said.Affordable housing was the jumping-off point for the discussions. But the participants talked about their desire to mix subsidized rentals with market-rate units, to build equity through co-ops and rent-to-own programs.“They’re op ...
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