Toronto Under Construction – Episode 69 with Heather Grey-Wolf from Infrastructure Ontario and Developments and Salima Rawji from York University Development Corporation

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Episode 69 of the Toronto Under Construction podcast brings together two powerhouse women who have experience in both the public and private sectors of Toronto development: Heather Grey-Wolf from Infrastructure Ontario and Salima Rawji from York University Development Corporation. The episode explores the complexities and opportunities of urban development and transit-oriented communities.

Meet our Guests:

Heather Grey-Wolf – Infrastructure Ontario

As Chief Development Officer, Heather Grey-Wolf oversees IO’s work on transit-oriented communities, leveraging surplus lands for government priorities such as long-term care, and supporting master development exercises like the redevelopment of Ontario Place.

Heather’s experience is a unique blend of development leadership across the public and private sectors. Most recently, as Senior Vice President at Capital Developments, Heather was responsible for a $2.1 billion development and construction portfolio. Prior to that, Heather established a $1 billion national multi-family development program with Realstar Management.

As a senior development leader with the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC) for seven years, Heather led the revitalization of the 69-acre Regent Park, the largest urban renewal project in Canada. Heather’s team was responsible for the relocation of 2,000 families, the demolition of 54 buildings, and the delivery of roads, parks, community infrastructure, 300,000 square feet of commercial space, and 7,500 units of multi‐family housing. In five years, Heather and her team delivered over 1,850 units of multi‐family housing (over 700 rental units and 1,150 condominium units) on time and on budget.

Heather is passionate about the outdoors and spends her spare time swimming, running, biking, and hiking with her family. Heather has an MBA from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, a B.Arch and B.Sc from McGill University, and is a licensed architect with the Ontario Association of Architects.

Salima Rawji – York University Dev Corp

Salima Rawji is an accomplished city builder with a passion for purpose-driven solutions. As the former Senior Vice President of Development for CreateTO (the City of Toronto’s Real Estate Agency), she led the development team, managing a pipeline of over 200 sites, in addition to key portfolios such as the City of Toronto’s Housing Now Initiative, which leverages city-owned lands to build affordable housing for mixed-use and mixed income communities.

Salima’s commitment to city building extends beyond her professional role. Throughout her career, she has served on several non-profit boards committed to inclusive and resilient cities. Currently, she is a member of the ULI Toronto Advisory Board and the R-LABS Industry Issue + Transformation Council. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the YMCA GTA, as well as the Toronto Foundation, where she chairs the Social Impact Investment Committee.  

Salima holds an MBA from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and is valedictorian of her undergraduate class at the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia.

Master-planned Communities

After our guests have had the opportunity to introduce themselves, Ben begins the episode by reading a definition of a Master-planned community: “Master-planned communities are large-scale residential developments that integrate various amenities and facilities to create a self-sufficient, cohesive living environment. These communities often include a mix of housing types, commercial spaces, schools, parks, recreational facilities, and sometimes even employment centres. The goal is to provide residents with a high quality of life, convenience, and a sense of community.

Key features of master-planned communities include:

1. Diverse Housing Options: MPCs offer a variety of housing styles and price points, catering to different demographics and income levels.
2. Integrated Amenities: These communities typically include amenities such as schools, shopping centers, parks, and recreational facilities, reducing the need for residents to travel outside the community for daily needs.
3. Thoughtful Design: MPCs are designed with careful planning to ensure cohesive development, efficient land use, and aesthetic appeal.
4. Sustainability: Many MPCs incorporate sustainable practices such as energy-efficient buildings, green spaces, and environmentally-friendly infrastructure.
5. Community Building: The design and amenities promote social interaction and a sense of belonging among residents.”

Ben jumps into his first question with Heather asking, “Infrastructure Ontario is working on a number of major transit-oriented communities around upcoming subway stations. Can you give us an example of a project you’re working on that is integrating high-rise apartments into the plans, and if you can, tell us how you get residential developers involved?” Tune in at 6:53 where Heather shares more about the transit-oriented communities program and how Infrastructure Ontario is working closely with the Metrolinx and The Transit Design team to leverage government investment in transit to develop housing and community amenities at each of the subway nodes. The group discusses the process for developing high-rise projects on top of transit hubs.

Turning to Salima, Ben says “I’ve had the pleasure of giving a few guest lectures at York University, but the one thing that struck me was how low-density the campus is. Why hasn’t the community gone more vertical, and are there any future high-rise developments in the works?” Tune in at 13:42 to hear Salina discuss how York University has realized that they can help address societal problems like housing. She shares details of the Keele Campus Vision and Strategy which speaks to the four neighbourhoods around the campus and how they are development lands that touch two different transit stations: Pioneer Village (which is the boundary between Toronto and Vaughan) and York University Station. “We are looking at how we build community, what is the responsibility of the university, how do we make this a place people want to be and how do we transform this campus that has this higher density transit on it. That is core to our work at YUDC”.

The Municipal Developer

Ben switches gears to the idea of the “municipal developer” reading an excerpt from The Providence Journal: Rhode Island could be the first state to tackle the housing crisis by acting as a developer from June 2022. He reads “More than 30 years ago, Rhode Island passed a law requiring 10% of the housing supply in each city and town be “affordable.” 

Decades later, only six communities have hit that benchmark. 

New Legislation — S2939, nicknamed the “Create Homes Act” — would use $300 million in American Recovery Plan Act funds to create a centralized, statewide Department of Housing. 

It would also allow the state to take matters into its own hands by buying land and building housing — in other words, by acting as a developer. 

But new housing developments built by the state wouldn’t be exclusively for people living in dire poverty, contrary to the stereotype. They would include “workforce housing” for middle-class professionals like teachers and nurses who find themselves priced out of the current market. And a certain percentage of the units could be rented or sold at market rates.

That’s the model that’s used in Vienna, Austria, where it’s common for affluent residents to live alongside middle-class families and low-income workers in attractive, well-maintained “social housing.”

Ben says to Salina “you spent a good chunk of your career at CreateTO, so you have a more informed opinion on the potential role of government entities in producing housing? Is there any change a federal, provincial or municipal developer could deliver housing at any reasonable scale without relying on massive subsidies?” Tune in at 16:52 to hear Salina discuss the mindset at CreateTO which was (and still is), “what is the risk that the market isn’t willing to take, and is that risk the government is willing to take, because of a policy outcome? How can the government bear some of the burden that developers don’t want to bear and bring our best skill sets together to collaborate to outcome”. Heather chimes in with some *breaking news*, shares that the municipal developer does exist in Toronto, and the group discusses how the City is equity partners with their development partners.

Transit Oriented Communities

Circling back to Transit-Oriented Communities Ben discusses a paper: Ontario 360 Policy Paper – Transit-Oriented Communities: Why We Need Them And How We Can Make Them Happen from April 2021. He reads “While there is widespread agreement on the merits of transit-oriented communities, it has been slow and difficult in Ontario to get them built. Development poses a particularly complex policy and implementation challenge. It is akin to solving a Rubik’s Cube. Like the damnably complex puzzle, the development of successful transit-oriented communities requires alignment among many government and private sector stakeholders, arranged in just the right order, at just the right time.” He says to Heather, “now that the residential real estate market has cooled significantly, are all these planned transit-oriented developments going to be significantly dumbed down from the more ambitious plans, with the path of least resistance taken? I’ve already seen updated renderings for East Harbour, seems like we’re going for easy and uncomplicated instead of bold and inspiring. What are your thoughts here?” Tune in at 29:28 for Heather’s response and a discussion on how municipalities work with the residents to better communities.

As the group continues to discuss transit communities, Ben mentions that all along the subway extension to Vaughan, in Downsview and on the York University Campus, there are stand alone subway stations, wasting millions of dollars in development potential above. He asks “Why didn’t these stations get integrated into affordable housing buildings, libraries, community centres? Why did we strike out on this massive opportunity?” Tune in at 40:34 where Salima says “we’re still early in the game, it will come, we have a great vision around mix uses, around community, around density…” She goes on to question why this wasn’t done on the Eglinton West LRT and mentions that the Metrolinx lands have huge development play, but the priority of the day was get the transit open on schedule. (“Good thing we’ve done that!” Says Ben.”) The group discuss how this wasn’t an election issue like it is now, with Ben mentioning how that’s $40 million dollars worth of value lost. Heather says that’s exactly why they are doing it differently this time around and mentions that with the Ontario Line she’s seeing a lot more acceptance of the fact that we need more housing supply. “Everyone acknowledges across the board, in a way that they didn’t 10-15 years ago when they were doing the Eglinton Crosstown, that density, and significant density should be going in at these stations in direct parallel with the government investment.”

The 15-Minute City

Parlaying into this next article, The 15 Minute City – Fast Company – How Paris became a 15-minute city from May 2024, Ben reads, “Four years ago, Paris embraced the idea of the 15-minute city—the concept that you should be able to live a short walk or bike ride from work, school, stores, and other aspects of daily life.

Since then, the city has radically changed. There are now 746 miles of protected bike lanes, and more Parisians bike than drive. Empty offices have been redeveloped with housing, coworking spaces, gyms, shops, and other uses under one roof. The mayor recently said that 2025 would be the year of “hyper-proximity,” with even more focus on bringing services to each neighbourhood so people don’t have to get in the car every time they need to run an errand.” 

He says to Heather “The 15-minute city has also sparked controversy and conspiracy theories, where traffic restrictions and other measures to reduce car dependency have led to protests. Critics argue that such initiatives resemble climate lockdowns! I imagine one of the key goals of Infrastructure Ontario is to keep people moving as efficiently as possible through the province, keeping in mind we need delivery trucks to move goods throughout the region, we need buses and streetcars to arrive on time. So how do you balance the need for more transit and bike lanes, with many people’s preference for driving in a private vehicle?” Tune in at 45:29 where Heather talks about the cultural differences between Europe and North America specifically when it comes to driving, biking and transit.

Turning to Salima, Ben says “The York University Campus is a weird spot, wedged between industrial and heavy employment uses, the challenged Jane and Finch area, southeast of two major highways. How are you thinking about making the campus more of a 15-minute city, and making it more desirable to urbanites that want to walk and bike to everywhere they need to go?” Tune in at 50:05 to hear Salina share the vision for what’s to come at York’s campus.

Smart Cities

Moving on to discuss Smart Cities, Ben cites an article from the Commercial Observer from June 2024” Whatever Happened to ‘Smart Cities’? He reads “In May 2020, the smart city concept appeared to have been dead and buried when Sidewalk Labs ended its collaboration with the City of Toronto to create Quayside, a data-infused, sustainability-focused experiment in urban living.

Killed by a combination of Sidewalk Labs’ opaque vision for the techno-neighbourhood, conflicts about public funding of the built world over enhancing the natural environment, privacy concerns, and the COVID-19 pandemic, Quayside’s death seemed to herald the demise of the smart city. In December 2021, Alphabet folded Sidewalk Labs, its urban innovation arm, into Google.

The smart city may still be 6 feet under, but there remain some instances where cities, mostly in top-down autocracies such as China and some Persian Gulf states, see data-infused metropolises as a social good rather than a potential evil.

Smart cities are generally defined by their capacities to collect data via technology and then to use that data to improve operations as varied as transit systems, power plants and jails.” 

Ben says to Salima, “I would think that York University would be on the forefront of the smart city movement. Any general comments on smart cities from your time at CreateTO and your current role? WIll we be seeing anonymous cars ushering students between classes anytime soon?” Tune in at 54:41 where Salima and Heather discuss the importance of innovation and technology, and data collection and how it will benefit us in the future.

Student Housing

Switching gears to Student Housing – Ben cites an article from the Toronto Star from May 2024: Brampton had highest number of international students living in ‘unsuitable’ housing in Canada: StatsCan. He reads “A Statistics Canada study has found Brampton had the highest proportion of international students living in unsuitable homes amongst all cities in Canada in 2021.

The report provides the figures behind anecdotal reports of foreign students living in cramped, often illegal housing amidst a crunch for affordable accommodation, and shed new light on the reality for a group sometimes blamed for the current housing crisis.

Of the 14,770 international students with study permits in Brampton in 2021, 63.3% lived in unsuitable accommodations based on the National Occupancy Standards, the highest proportion of international students living in overcrowded homes in Canada.

Meanwhile, in Toronto, 37.2% of the 44,670 international students studying in the city lived in overcrowded accommodations.”

He asks Salima, “Why haven’t Ontario universities built more student housing? Are there any plans in the works for more public-private partnerships for more student housing on campus?” Tune in at 1:01:39 for Salima’s response. 

Before heading into Rapid Fire, Ben asks the ladies what is one challenge you are working through right now. Tune in at 1:03:16 for Heather’s response and 1:04:25 for Salima’s response.

Tune in now to episode 69 of the Toronto Under Construction podcast!

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