Why do some infill housing projects spark outrage while others fly under the radar? In this episode of The Missing Middle, host Sabrina Matto sits down with former London City Councillor and researcher Jesse Helmer to unpack 15 years of planning committee decisions. They explore why certain housing proposals face fierce opposition, what factors reduce pushback, and how cities can actually build more homes with community support. From surprising success stories to lessons learned in local politics, this conversation sheds light on the politics of infill housing—and why it matters for solving Canada’s housing crisis.

If you’re interested in urban planning, housing affordability, or how communities can embrace smarter growth, this episode is for you.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

01:00 Infill development research with Jesse Helmer

02:40 Factors influencing opposition to housing proposals

05:30 Research methodology and analysis

08:23 Following up with residents after a project is built

11:15 Jesse’s personal journey as a London city councillor

14:08 Optimism for housing solutions

16:28 Personal reflections about Jesse’s time on London city council

Research:

https://www.missingmiddleinitiative.ca/p/the-politics-of-infill-housing-what

Guest: Jesse Helmer: https://x.com/jesse_helmer

Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux

Produced by Meredith Martin

This podcast is funded by the Neptis Foundation and brought to you by the Smart Prosperity Institute.

Canadian cities are facing a creative crisis. Rising housing costs are driving artists, musicians, designers, and other innovators out — and it’s not just culture that’s at risk. In this episode, Sabrina Maddeaux and Mike Moffatt break down how losing the “creative class” hurts local economies, tourism, and even a city’s ability to attract tech and finance talent. From the ripple effects on nightlife and small businesses to the loss of vital cultural spaces, we explore why cities can’t afford to price out their creative heartbeat — and what policies could help keep them.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

01:13 Defining the creative class exodus

02:57 How housing costs impacts creative workers

05:54 The economic consequences of pricing out creatives

08:45 The ripple effect of losing creative spaces to the housing crisis

11:16 You can’t simply trade artists for tech workers

12:50 How this impacts the tourism economy

14:50 Policy solutions for retaining creatives

Research/Links:

Richard Florida

Toronto Arts Council economic impact study

CBC Arts article on artist couples leaving Toronto

Richard Florida's work on creative cities and economic development

Business Parks Suck (but they don't have to)

Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux

Produced by Meredith Martin

This podcast is funded by the Neptis Foundation and brought to you by the Smart Prosperity Institute.

Are young Canadians being taxed like millionaires while living like broke students? Sabrina Maddeaux and Mike Moffatt dive into the jaw-dropping disconnect between salaries, taxes, and the insane cost of housing. From bold tax reform ideas to creative fixes for rent, down payments, and wealth inequality, they tackle the policies (and politics) holding the next generation back. Expect sharp insights, a few laughs, and fresh solutions that could actually make life affordable again.

Chapters

00:00 The Tax Burden on Young Canadians

11:24 Proposed Tax Reforms and Their Implications

23:17 Wealth Inequality and Asset Inflation

34:55 Finding Solutions for Young Canadians

Research/Links:

To fix housing, we must rethink what wealth means in Canada

CIBC chief calls for tax changes to help young Canadians struggling to save money

Canada housing affordability and market trends

Wealthsimple

Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux

Produced by Meredith Martin

This podcast is funded by the Neptis Foundation and brought to you by the Smart Prosperity Institute.

What do cheesy Jean-Claude Van Damme movies and Canada’s rental housing crisis have in common? Apparently, more than you’d think! In this episode of The Missing Middle, Sabrina Maddeaux and Mike Moffatt hop in their imaginary time machine to explore how a long-forgotten 1970s tax trick—MURBs—might make a comeback to boost rental housing today. Will this retro loophole help fix our sky-high rents, or just mess with the condo market even more? Grab your popcorn and find out how investors, multiplexes, and a bit of tax magic could change the housing game all over again.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:51 Investing in housing: a time travel scenario
03:46 Why building apartments wasn’t a great investment
04:47 History of creating rental stock
06:07 Understanding the MERB
08:32 MURB tax deferrals
10:24 How MURB impacts condo construction
11:53 MURB now vs 1970s
13:19 The historical context of MERB and its implications

Research/links:

Time Cop trailer

The Quiet Death of the Investor Condo? MURBs May Change the Game

Hosts:
Sabrina Maddeaux https://x.com/SabrinaMaddeaux
Mike Moffatt https://twitter.com/MikePMoffatt https://bsky.app/profile/mikepmoffatt.bsky.social

Producer: Meredith Martin
https://twitter.com/meredithmartin
@meredithmartin.bsky.social

Editor: Sean Foreman
@seanegertonforeman
@seanforeman.bsky.social

This podcast is funded by the Neptis Foundation https://neptis.org/
Brought to you by the Missing Middle Initiative https://www.missingmiddleinitiative.ca/

Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux

Produced by Meredith Martin

This podcast is funded by the Neptis Foundation and brought to you by the Smart Prosperity Institute.

​​In this episode of The Missing Middle, Mike Moffatt and Sabrina Maddeaux unpack the controversy around REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts) and their role in Canada’s housing crisis. Are REITs really blocking affordable housing, or is the real issue deeper than greedy landlords? Mike and Sabrina break down how REITs work, why they’ve become political scapegoats, and what actually needs to change to build more truly affordable homes. If you’ve ever wondered who should be our landlords — mom-and-pops, corporations, or governments — this is the conversation you need to hear.

Subscribe for weekly deep dives on housing, urban planning, and Canada’s affordability crisis.

Drop your thoughts below: Who do YOU think should be Canada’s landlords?

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

01:55 Who should our landlords be?

03:44 Real Estate Investment Trusts

04:45 Mutual fund trust

05:45 Canada has an undeveloped REIT system

06:53 REIT push back on affordable housing

09:12 Who is to blame for affordable housing not getting built?

10:30 All of the other things that make it expensive to build

12:09 Should the government build more affordable housing?

12:37 Someone has to pay so who should it be?

16:11 What do we mean by affordable units?

Research/links:

Ford government scrapped Toronto affordable housing requirements after pushback from three REITs, documents show

Reddit thread

Everyone Wants Rentals, but No One Wants Landlords

REIT data

Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux

Produced by Meredith Martin

This podcast is funded by the Neptis Foundation and brought to you by the Smart Prosperity Institute.

In this episode of The Missing Middle, Sabrina Maddeaux and Mike Moffatt break down the massive wave of federal public service job cuts and how they’re slamming young Canadians the hardest. From thousands of lost student and contract jobs to long-term impacts on housing, wages, and health, they reveal how a shrinking government workforce could shut an entire generation out of shaping Canada’s future. They also dive into what this means for unions, the economy, and why real public service reform must include young voices. If you care about youth employment and the future of Canada’s workforce, you don’t want to miss this!

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

01:00 Federal public service job cuts explained

02:54 Our Video

03:46 The cohort effect and some historical context

05:12 The lack of young public sector workers in shaping policy

07:15 Mike’s experience in the federal public service

09:26 The talent vacuum

10:30 The effects of graduating in a recession

12:26 Ripple effects in the broader economy

13:45 Graduating in a recession can impact your health

16:30 Job hoarding and the role of unions

20:24 Future perspectives

Research/links:

Federal public service job cuts fall heavily on young workers

Sabrina Maddeaux: Striking union should ditch anti-millennial contract demand

How Colleges Broke Canadian Immigration

The Short- and Long-Term Career Effects of Graduating in a Recession

Life-Cycle Impacts of Graduating in a Recession

Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux

Produced by Meredith Martin

This podcast is funded by the Neptis Foundation and brought to you by the Smart Prosperity Institute.

Toronto’s housing market is in free fall — new condo sales have plunged 97% since 2021, costing governments $6.6 billion in lost tax revenue every year. In this episode, Sabrina Maddeaux and Mike Moffatt break down shocking new data on record-low home sales, how this impacts construction jobs, and why the crisis could get worse before it gets better. They explain how cutting taxes like the GST could revive housing starts without sacrificing affordability, and debate whether foreign buyers and international students should play a role in the market recovery. Don’t miss this deep dive into the numbers and policy ideas that could reshape Canada’s housing future.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

01:39 Understanding the GTA housing market crash

02:28 Video Link - Where Did All the Jobs Go?

03:01 Governments could lose $6.6 Billion

06:20 Bad housing starts numbers explained

08:42 Contraction in the construction industry means 41000 jobs lost

10:40 How cutting the GST on new homes makes sense

14:00 We need high home construction and affordability

15:09 Foreign Investment and housing supply

16:40 Conclusion and future considerations

Research:

Toronto’s Housing Collapse Will Cost Governments $6.6 Billion a Year

Where DID All the Jobs Go? The Mystery of Rising Unemployment

Altus group reports:

https://www.bildgta.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/6.18.25-Job-Risk-Housing-Pipeline-GTA-Altus-Group.pdf

https://www.bildgta.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Altus-Data-Solutions-media-backgrounder_May-2025.pdf

Toronto New Home Sales Fall To Record Low, Just 42 Condos Sold In The City

The Next Shoe to Drop

How Vaughan is Cutting Housing Costs | The Agenda

Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux

Produced by Meredith Martin

This podcast is funded by the Neptis Foundation and brought to you by the Smart Prosperity Institute.

In this episode of The Missing Middle, Sabrina Maddeaux and Mike Moffatt are joined by urban planner Alex Beheshti for a deep dive into one of the most overlooked barriers to solving Canada’s housing crisis: zoning data. Alex makes the case for a Canadian Zoning Atlas—an ambitious but essential tool to bring clarity, consistency, and transparency to the country’s fragmented planning systems. They explore why zoning laws are so confusing, how the lack of machine-readable data cripples good policy, and what Canada can learn from international best practices. If we can map census data, why not zoning? From obscure codes to wedding vows about development charges (really!) this is a conversation about why better data might just be the key to better housing.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

01:00 Canada needs a housing crisis map

01:29 Alex shares his wedding vows

02:48 Previous Alex B episode

02:53 Mike’s philosophy of experimentation and failure

04:05 Understanding zoning: definitions and complexities

07:01 The need for centralized zoning data

09:19 The massive gap in urban planning data

10:30 Envisioning a Canadian zoning atlas

12:16 Canada should emulate the US and Australia

13:49 Future planning tools for Canada

Research/links:

Canada’s Housing Crisis Needs a Map

Guest: Alex Beheshti https://twitter.com/beheshtialex

Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux

Produced by Meredith Martin

This podcast is funded by the Neptis Foundation and brought to you by the Smart Prosperity Institute.