"LRTs displace all the poor people"?

[zanate]

From the article:

Oz Cole-Arnal, a former Lutheran minister and member of the Alliance Against Poverty (AAP), says poorer residents have already been shifted out to the suburbs in favour of funky condos and gleaming new office space.

I can't think of single current condo tower or office in downtown Kitchener presently occupying land that used to be poor housing.

48 Weber comes to mind, though it's not going to be a cut and dried example. It had fallen past the point of human habitability, but the company that decided to renovate it certainly isn't doing it with the working poor in mind. Nor are they economically incentivized to.

I think Cole-Arnal is out in left field a lot of the time, but he's not exactly barking up a tree in this case. A unit doesn't have to be torn down for it to fall out of reach of affordable housing. The growth of desirability of the location means that as soon as the landlord has the opportunity, they can invest some thousands of dollars tidying a unit up, and drastically mark up the asking rent for a new tenant.

The only real solution is increasing supply at the low end of the market. But where's the money in that?

Does anyone know if someone is actually building or opening anything new downtown that goes for under a thousand a month in rent?