New Housing Alternatives

In this episode of New Housing Alternatives, hosts Cherise Burda and Dr. Ren Thomas speak with Chiyi Tam, urban planner, anti‑displacement organizer, and Managing Director & co‑founder of the Toronto Chinatown Land Trust. They explore how Chinatowns function as complex social and economic ecosystems, and how the community land trust (CLT) model can help protect housing, small businesses, and cultural spaces in the face of intense displacement pressures.

Chiyi traces a lineage from historic tongs—diasporic clan and hometown associations that pooled funds to buy property, house workers, and offer near-interest-free loans—to today’s community land trusts in Toronto’s West Chinatown, Boston, and Los Angeles. She explains why conventional planning tools and “housing‑only” funding streams don’t fit a neighbourhood where people often live, work, and socialize in the same spaces, and shares how the Toronto Chinatown Land Trust is partnering with a tong to redevelop an ancestral hall at 217 Augusta into seniors’ housing and community space.

Key Takeaways
  • Chinatown is an ecosystem, not a single project. Rather than one organization “representing” Chinatown, the neighbourhood is sustained by overlapping networks of kung fu clubs, mahjong halls, family associations, tongs, BIAs, artists, and multiple levels of government, all tied together by relationships and mutual aid.  
  • Community land trusts are governance models, not one‑off housing fixes. CLTs are neighborhood‑wide, multi‑stakeholder real estate cooperatives that permanently steward land and buildings for community benefit, resisting the extraction of profit from private property—even when projects focus on housing.  
  • Housing, work, and culture are inseparable in Chinatown. From people sleeping behind laundries to nail salons in condo units, everyday life in Chinatown ignores the rigid separations of residential, commercial, and cultural uses that shape zoning, policy, and funding silos. Holistic solutions are essential.  
  • Tongs were proto‑CLTs rooted in mutual aid. Historically, tongs bought property together, ran internal lending systems, and helped members survive racist labour regimes and exclusionary housing markets—functioning as democratically controlled, member‑based land stewards long before the term “community land trust” existed.  
  • A succession crisis threatens deeply affordable housing. As 80- and 90‑year‑old tong leaders retire and pass away, many are selling off properties that have quietly housed low‑income seniors and bachelors for as little as $100/month, putting irreplaceable affordability and cultural spaces at risk.  
  • Partnerships can unlock new models of community ownership. By partnering with the Hainan Association of Ontario on the redevelopment of its clubhouse, the Toronto Chinatown Land Trust is piloting a model where younger generations step in as development partners and long‑term stewards—supporting seniors’ housing, cultural practice, and community control of land.
Chapters:

00:00 – Intro: New Housing Alternatives and this episode’s focus 
00:28 – Why look beyond “broken housing” narratives? 
00:46 – Introducing guest: urban planner and organizer Chiyi Tam
02:00 – What is a community land trust, really? Governance vs. “housing solution” 
04:19 – From Kensington Market to Chinatown: what makes this CLT different? 
04:55 – Why zoning silos don’t fit how people live and work in Chinatown 
09:17 – Painting a picture of mixed homes, businesses, and third spaces 
10:02 – The Chinatown ecosystem: Cooperation between Chinatown and many stakeholders 
11:05 – Kung fu clubs, mahjong halls, tongs, BIAs, and elected offices 
14:06 – Balancing culture, heritage, and staying focused on land stewardship 
16:44 – Walking tour reflections and the question: what are tongs? 
17:20 – Tongs 101: global Chinese mutual aid and association halls 
19:20 – Railways, burial traditions, and the birth of Chinatowns 
21:55 – Karaoke fundraisers, fictitious kin, and buying property together 
23:55 – Tongs as proto–community land trusts and social finance systems 
25:44 – The succession crisis and losing $100/month rooms 
26:43 – “Now I want to buy a tong building”: urgency and opportunity 
27:04 – Has the recent market downturn helped? 
27:31 – Why land is still expensive, and owners still need “full market value” 
28:45 – First big project: redeveloping 217 Augusta with the Hainan Association 
29:20 – Seniors’ housing, cultural space, and being first in North America 
30:49 – Closing thoughts on optimism and community‑led land governance 
31:20 – How to learn more and get involved: ChinatownLandTrust.ca 
32:21 – Episode wrap‑up, research links, and credits 
33:02 – Disclaimer: diversity of views within the partnership and funder  

New Housing Alternatives is made possible with the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Explore our Vision & Objectives, Research Clusters & Projects, and subscribe to our blog at:  

https://newhousingalternatives.ca/blog

What is New Housing Alternatives?

What if the solutions to Canada’s housing crisis are already out there, just hidden in plain sight? New Housing Alternatives Podcast digs deeper to uncover what really works in solving the affordability issue.

Despite dominant narratives claiming our housing crisis can be solved by simply building more market-rate supply, nearly half of Canadian households can’t afford average rents today. The crisis is deeper than a numbers game; it’s about who we’re building for, who gets left out, and what kind of communities we want to live in.

Join hosts Ren Thomas and Cherise Burda as they explore real solutions to this once-in-a-generation housing crisis and cut through the noise on Canada’s housing affordability crisis to spotlight real solutions that already exist, and the people making them happen.

New Housing Alternatives is made possible with the support of a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Partnership Grant, a partnership that is co-directed by Alan Walks and Susannah Bunce and based at the University of Toronto.

In this series, we talk to the people doing the work: nonprofit and co-operative developers, community organizers, and researchers reimagining housing not as a commodity, but as a human right. These are the underdogs creating affordable homes against the odds, proving it’s possible to build housing for people, not profit.

You’ll hear from:
-Ground-breaking developers creating alternative models of co-ownership and co-ops
-Policy experts who challenge the supply-only narrative
-Economists and data experts unpack how affordability vanishes, and how to bring it back
-Community leaders who are preserving existing homes and building new ones in ways that centre dignity and access

Whether you're a policymaker, housing advocate, or simply someone trying to make rent, this podcast brings you stories and insights that show a different future is not only possible, it’s already being built.