Municipalities across Canada are facing significant financial pressures due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. On Thursday, April 30, join the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI) and Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance for a webinar conversation about what the crisis means for municipal budgets and fiscal sustainability in the short and long term.

This panel examined the continued impact of COVID-19 on municipal finance. How are municipalities preparing for their 2021 budgets? What impacts are they anticipating from COVID-19? What steps are needed at the municipal, provincial, and federal levels to safeguard the fiscal health of municipalities?

Many Canadian municipalities have taken hits to their budgets due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But what has the effect been on municipalities around the world? Have municipalities in different countries fared better than others? What accounts for any differences? What needs to be done to ensure municipalities bounce back?

What does Toronto and the region need to recover from COVID-19 and build back stronger? How can we build on recent successes and continue to address and overcome the constraints and barriers that have historically limited effective intergovernmental and intersectoral collaboration? What will partnership look like across the GTHA?

This webinar examined the impacts of regeneration initiatives on housing affordability in Detroit. It analyzed how property tax abatements, housing subsidies and demand-side incentives can help to stabilize neighbourhoods and spur redevelopment activity, but also contribute to gentrification pressures and potential displacement.

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the importance of cities as partners in implementing and enforcing national and provincial policies, programs, and services. This webinar looked at how can federal-provincial-municipal collaboration be improved and what models exist for all three orders government to come together and address shared policy challenges?

Toronto’s Inclusionary Zoning (IZ) policy will go before City Council this year. The IZ tool has produced new affordable housing by compelling developers to set aside a portion of their new housing units as affordable housing in the US and the UK. What lessons can help inform the implementation of IZ in Toronto?

This webinar looked at the following questions: What role do airports play in ensuring thriving and prosperous city regions? How will that change following the COVID-19 crisis? How can governments at all levels work together to make sure airports are fully integrated within their regions and continue to succeed as economic hubs?

Graduate Fellow James Ankers examined the implications for Toronto of recent national re-engagement in housing policy. He analyzed major elements of the National Housing Strategy, assessed how it differs from previous housing policy efforts, and explored the new policy tools and approaches the federal government is using to engage local partners in the development and management of new housing stock.