The Realities of Renting While Black
Black renters have always faced discrimination in Toronto. The rental crisis makes it worse.
The Airbnb Loophole Pushing Out Long-Term Tenants
Despite regulations, short-term rentals continue to keep apartments off the market in neighbourhoods like Kensington Market.
How to Protect Seniors From Eviction
A new report on seniors in TCHC buildings shows that current eviction prevention methods need to be strengthened.
At the Landlord and Tenant Board, Tenants Wait Twice as Long as Their Landlords
Applications by tenants take up to seven months longer than those by landlords. Behind this disparity is a skewed system of Zoom hearings and inexperienced adjudicators that can’t keep up with a mile-high case backlog.
How We Misunderstand the Housing Crisis
The “housing crisis” isn’t a crisis for everyone—for some it’s a windfall. That fact infuses every aspect of our response to it.
For Scarborough Bus Riders, a Long Wait Gets Longer
The TTC is implementing a new round of cuts to bus services on March 26. Many of the biggest wait time increases are in Scarborough.
The Private Deals Remaking Long-Term Care
In a province with the highest percentage of for-profit LTC homes in the country, new deals are further consolidating the industry into the hands of a few companies with some of the worst COVID death rates in the country.
Post-Tory Toronto: What Happens Next?
A by-election, an interim mayor, uncertainty around the budget, and the first real race of the “strong mayor” era—what John Tory’s resignation means for Toronto politics.
Understanding John Tory’s Proposed Budget
The first budget of the “strong mayor” era doesn’t do enough to address the city’s long-standing problems.
See the Results of Our Annual Diversity Survey
Every year The Local conducts a diversity survey among staff and contributors. See how we did in 2022.
The Local Journalism Fellowship 2023
Now in its fourth year, the program provides training and mentorship to aspiring and emerging journalists from communities underrepresented in Canadian media. Applications are now open.
After a Voided Election, A Surge of Interest in a French School Trustee Race
Last fall, a French school trustee election imploded when it emerged that no one running actually spoke French. Now the by-election in Viamonde Ward 3 — Centre has a crowded slate of eager candidates and an increase in voter enrollment.
A Local Year in Review
Favourite reporting moments, overlooked stories, heaviest furniture to carry up four flights of stairs—a Local staff 2022 roundtable.
Maybe I’ll See Raymond
For years, I walked the city doing street outreach overnight—handing out socks, listening to people’s stories, always scanning the crowd for a familiar face.
The Night Watchmen
In the booming private security industry, the biggest problem is finding enough guards. Then came a new source of low-wage employees—international students.
A Voice on the End of the Line
For the last sixty years, crisis hotlines have been the emergency rooms of the mental health world. But remote work has transformed the already challenging overnight shift into a deeply lonely one.
The Brutish Lives and Hideous Deaths of Toronto Rats
Rats are cunning, ravenous, daring, disgusting. They stand in for everything squalid and dysfunctional about urban life and we will never be rid of them.
Leaving the Party
Walking late at night, free from the noise of the day and the demands and threats of men, I can finally hear my own thoughts.
Death in the Small Hours
In the middle of the night, palliative care doctor Joshua Wales drives across the city, making house calls to people during the most emotionally complex, vulnerable moments of their lives.
Building Fun in a Notoriously Unfun City
With artists getting international recognition and partygoers eager to make up for lost time, the only thing standing between Toronto and a vibrant nightlife scene is Toronto.