Letter to editor speaks of loss of traditional housing in Long Branch and New Toronto

For your interest, the following letter from Lori Moore appears in the Dec. 7, 2012 edition of The Etobicoke Guardian:

To the Editor:

In the New Toronto and Long Branch areas just north of the lakeshore, there are many affordable older cottages and small bungalows being torn down so that two houses can be built on the same property. A cottage may sell for about $400,000; the new houses built on half the property sell for up to $800,000 each. They have no basements, they are very tall and thin and occupy most of the land.

These homes are making the area unaffordable for the working and middle class, they cast a huge shadow on their neighbours.

With an interior garage, high stairway to the entrance and almost no property outside, this style of home encourages its residents to stay indoors and not be part of the rich life and friendly people around them. There is much green space lost as there is almost no unpaved property around these thin buildings.

Revitalization is a popular word at the moment, used to justify tearing down a few empty stores to put up an inappropriately huge condo. The houses being lost are old, and require ongoing repair and renovation, but they have housed many, many families who could enjoy home ownership on a modest income. We keep pushing people to the suburbs and then complain about urban sprawl and congestion. It is such a terrible waste.

Lori Moore