The extraordinary richness of the renting world

By David Hayes, Toronto Star, January 5, 2013 Another 12 months of telling renters’ stories has passed and I’d like to start off the New Year by looking back. Sadly, some things haven’t changed: it’s increasingly expensive to live in downtown Toronto and little affordable housing is being built because there is no will to […]

Housing coop still thriving 30 years later

by David Hayes, The Toronto Star, November 14, 2009 I recently moved into a two-bedroom townhouse in Cathedral Court, a housing coop in St. Lawrence neighbourhood, and attended my first annual general meeting. Rather than a for-profit landlord, coops elect a board of directors from among the members and decisions are made democratically. Aside from […]

This garden helps a community flower

West end’s The Stop is a go-to place for thousands who benefit yearly from the centre’s food-based programs By David Hayes, The Toronto Star, September 05, 2009 As I walk alongside Opal Sparks on our way to The Stop Community Food Centre’s 8,000-square-foot community garden in Earlscourt Park, she is saying, “If more money was put […]

Renter-activist has eye on Queen West

by David Hayes, The Toronto Star, June 14, 2008 Walking the three blocks of Queen West that separates The Gladstone Hotel from The Drake Hotel, Misha Glouberman points out the bars that have opened or are at various stages of construction. “The density of bars in this neighbourhood is incredible,” he says. “People think noise and bars […]

The art of coach house lodging

Historic outbuilding makes winsome abode for collector at a crossroads in his life By David Hayes, The Toronto Star, October 20, 2007 In addition to my girlfriend, Jennifer and I, the guest list for a recent Ed Jackson dinner party included a horde of Mickey Mouse dolls, a detachment of plastic Mounties, a dozen or so Fisher […]

Shameless, driven, mortgage-free

Megan Griffith-Greene and Jeromy Lloyd have put off home ownership to chase their dreams By David Hayes, The Toronto Star, August 4, 2007 Smart, savvy, independent-minded teenage girls don’t have a lot of choice in magazines. There’s Seventeen (“Get the latest fashion, beauty, dating, and health tips. Plus, win freebies, take quizzes, and check your […]

A winning recipe for living well

Restaurant owners pour savings into shared business By David Hayes, The Toronto Star, October 28, 2006 One of my favourite urban rituals is brunch and there’s nowhere in Toronto I’d rather have it than at Le Petit Dejeuner. It’s a small restaurant on King St., just east of Jarvis, around the corner from St. Lawrence […]

Everyone has a moving day story

By David Hayes, The Toronto Star, October 14, 2006 It’s moving day, Pack your bed quilts and get away, If you spend every cent you can live out in a tent, It’s moving day. Caught up in the agony of moving day, few of us would be humming this jaunty Vaudeville tune. We’d be too […]

Dog’s life not ruff for Dixie

Landlord doesn’t mind pets in building. Very few complaints from neighbours. by David Hayes, The Toronto Star, June 17, 2006 Yip yip yip yip yip yip. Who’s that at the door? A visitor at 10 o’clock on a Tuesday night? Oh, I see, it’s that tall writer with the shaved head who lives in number […]