World Headlines: What happened to the starter home?

First Up

By Ashley Okwuosa

Good morning. Today, Canadians will mark the third anniversary of Flight PS752, with ceremonies in 12 major cities across Canada and 26 countries around the globe. Here’s the latest.

MUST READS

Andrew Francis Wallace/Toronto Star

HOUSING

How the dream of the single-family starter home vanished

As home prices skyrocket and affordability continues to be an issue, starter homes no longer seem feasible. Research shows it takes 27 years for an average young person to save 20 per cent for the down payment on a GTA home. It took baby boomers six years. To illustrate these changes, Victoria Gibson, May Warren, and Tess Kalinowski picked three houses in three Toronto-area communities, comparing what a buyer could get in Toronto, Markham, and Hamilton in the years 2000, 2010, and 2021 for about 20 per cent less than the average selling price in each of those communities. Here’s what they found.

Toronto Star photo

SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED

Cursive is dead. Can the signature be far behind?

With the near-elimination of cursive from the school curriculum and a move to paperless commerce, the handwritten signature feels like a quaint throwback, notes Janet Hurley. Overnight, companies like Docusign and Adobe became vital lifelines as people shift to e-signatures and toss pen and paper. But what would we lose if we lost the art of a longhand signature? Here are some legal, social, and surprisingly scientific benefits of writing your signature using a pen and paper.

Toronto Star file photo

Opinion

Toronto’s problems were years in the making. Throwing more money at the police won’t solve them

Police are Toronto’s biggest budget item, and its growth is seemingly untouchable, undebatable, and unexamined, writes Shawn Micallef. Last week, Mayor John Tory announced a nearly $50 million increase in the police budget, but will that fix Toronto’s problems? Probably not. Study after study — and expert after expert — of urban crime has shown that throwing money at the police is not a solution to crime, but investments in community-led solutions are. So, what will more funds for the police do? Shawn argues that it will simply play on people’s fears. Here’s how.

John Rennison

HAMILTON

The life of unhoused and abused women in Hamilton

When Julia and her family moved from South America to Canada in 2021, she went from sleeping at the bus station to an emergency shelter following abuse from her ex-partner. Research shows that 53 per cent of the homeless community in Hamilton identify as women, two per cent as non-binary, and one per cent as trans or two-spirit. The research also noted unfit or unsafe housing as one of the top three reasons for housing loss. Hamilton Spectator reporter, Beatriz Baleeiro, shares the stories of three women and their experiences with homelessness, vulnerability, and gender-based violence in the city.

Lance McMillan/Toronto Star

CANADA

Here’s how Ukrainians marked orthodox holidays in Toronto

Alina Gladchenko and her family are among the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians who celebrated Orthodox Ukrainian Christmas in Canada on Saturday. Orthodox Ukrainian Christmas falls on Jan. 7, and New Year’s Day on Jan. 14 for those who follow the Julian calendar. Instead of traditional New Year salutations, Ukrainians in Canada will be wishing for “good health, victory, and peace,” amidst the ongoing war in their home country. Patty Winsa shares how one family in Toronto celebrated the holidays.

UP CLOSE

Paige Taylor White/Toronto Star

Stuart Ross founded Bulldog Coffee, a Granby Street café, 19 years ago after leaving investment banking to immerse himself in espresso shots. The former banker had never considered becoming a barista before. So, how did he end up making award-winning espresso drinks? Ross shares the Bulldog Coffee origin story with David Silverberg and how he has survived — and thrived — despite competition, construction, and a pandemic.

READ THIS

Knopf Canada

If reading more books is somewhere on your list of 2023 to-do’s, Star book editor Deborah Dundas has selected 31 books she can’t wait to read this year. Browse the list, and discover new voices, ideas, and stories to add to your TBR pile.

Thanks for reading. You can reach the First Up team at firstup@thestar.ca, and Manuela will see you back here Monday.

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