Toronto, the city we know and love, is at a crossroads, facing mounting challenges in 2025.
The pressures of rapid growth, soaring costs, political inertia and a city run by ideology, not common sense, have created a feeling that our city has lost its way.
Last year, after a nearly 10% property tax increase that was supposed to improve services, a city-commissioned survey found only 11% of Torontonians felt life in our city had become better over the past year. Unfortunately, this week Mayor Olivia Chow unveiled a city budget built on a 6.9% property tax increase – triple the rate of inflation – at a time when many families cannot afford it.
Over the last two years, more than 220,000 people have left Toronto for other parts of Canada. Many of these are young families looking for a better, more affordable place to raise their kids.
We can address these challenges, but it will require bold leadership and clear, common-sense solutions. It’s time to get the basics of running this city right and focus on the city’s role in providing core services and doing it better than anywhere else.
This is why we have launched A Better City Toronto, a new non-profit organization to create momentum around solutions to improve the city’s livability.
A crucial part of a strong democracy is robust civic debates, which lead to better outcomes when we listen to one another. But too often, Toronto’s conversation has been driven by loud ideological voices, leaving many reasonable people feeling unrepresented, shouted down, or disengaged.
From housing to transportation to public safety, the people of Toronto are paying more and getting less at a time when so many are struggling to make ends meet. Fixing this will require listening to residents and challenging some of the ideological orthodoxy that has been accepted as indisputable facts for too long.
As a common-sense coalition, ABC Toronto will focus on the main challenges residents face every day: affordability, getting around the city, and safety.
The city’s housing market continues to spiral out of reach for most residents. Homelessness has surged, with a doubling of encampments and shelters over capacity. And new housing starts have cratered, falling 91% below the 10-year average. The city’s inability to provide housing options for all income levels threatens its reputation as a livable and inclusive metropolis.
There are sensible solutions to managing affordability in this city, like reducing development charges on new homes and making it faster and less expensive to build. But property taxes must also be heavily considered, as the single biggest bill most homeowners pay on an annual basis.
Transportation is another major pain point for residents of this city. However you get around, most folks can agree it takes too long and is unreliable. The TTC is plagued by aging infrastructure, frequent delays, and overcrowding, while traffic congestion has never been worse – making it harder to get to work, while taking longer to get home to your family.
Bike lanes have also proliferated across the city, creating increased traffic on the city’s busiest corridors, despite evidence showing limited usage along some segments. Toronto needs a robust transportation plan that balances immediate needs with long-term growth, grounded in a stronger effort to coordinate construction to minimize route closures and congestion.
We have to get this city going in order to meet our full potential.
Meanwhile, Torontonians face escalating public safety concerns amid a perceived inability to address this critical issue. Public safety has become a growing source of anxiety for residents, with rising incidents of violent crime, random attacks, and gun violence dominating headlines as the city enters 2025.
We need a real plan. A plan to crack down on auto theft, a plan to invest in community police officers, a plan to address escalating gun violence, a plan to tackle the mental health and addictions crisis that is at the root of much of this crime, and a plan to keep places of worship safe, including addressing the escalating rise of antisemitism in this city.
Toronto’s Jewish community has felt particularly abandoned by our city’s leadership over the past year. Toronto has witnessed an increase in hate crimes targeting Jewish communities, while City Hall has offered only generic condemnations of hate rather than concrete actions to combat it. Community leaders have called for more robust measures, such as funding for community safety programs and stronger enforcement of hate crime laws.
By tackling these issues of affordability, congestion and safety together, we can build a stronger, more inclusive city that can reach its full potential as a livable economic powerhouse.
Governance challenges in this city undermine real progress. Political gridlock that mirrors the gridlock on our streets is stalling meaningful action. ABC Toronto is here to bring people together and get us moving towards a better future, and better city, for all of us.
– Ariella Kimmel is the executive director of A Better City Toronto