Housing promises are on the October 26 ballot — how to fact-check them with city data

Toronto's municipal election is Monday, October 26, 2026, with voting places open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Advance voting runs October 6 to 11, and if you want to vote by mail, the request deadline is 4:30 p.m. on September 24 — this week. The city's MyVote tool at toronto.ca tells you where you vote and whether you're on the list.

The nomination period closed August 21, and the mayoral ballot is long — dozens of names — with media coverage focused on a three-way race at the top. We're not going to tell you who to vote for. But nearly every campaign in this election, for mayor and for council, is running on housing: more of it, faster approvals, lower costs, stronger tenant protections. Those claims are checkable. The data candidates cite — and sometimes stretch — is public, and you can look at it yourself.

"Units approved" is not "units built." The gap between the two is where most housing promises go to die, and it's visible in the public record.

"We approved X thousand units"

Approvals are real, but they're the start of a pipeline, not the end. A rezoning or a site plan approval can sit for years before anyone digs a hole — especially in a market where developers are shelving and shrinking projects. To see what's actually moving near you, check development applications around your address, then look for the building permits that follow — a project with a recent construction permit is real in a way a press release isn't. Our guide to reading a development sign explains the stages in between.

"We're speeding up permits"

Permit timelines are measurable. Every permit in the city's system has an application date and a status you can check in the permits tool. If a candidate says approvals are faster — or an opponent says they've stalled — the record for your own street is a few clicks away. The same goes for gentle-density promises: sixplexes and garden suites are already legal in much of the city, and the sixplex next door won't send you a notice, so the permit database is where you find out what's actually being built.

"We'll protect renters"

Enforcement claims are checkable too. The city already runs RentSafeTO inspections, property standards orders, and bylaw investigations — all public. Look up any building's report card, its open orders, and active investigations. If a candidate promises tougher enforcement, the baseline they're promising to improve is right there.

"We'll hold the line on property taxes"

Property tax promises deserve the most scrutiny, because the math is constrained: Toronto's residential rate is set against 2016 assessed values, and the city's budget pressures don't vanish because a campaign says so. Use the property tax tool to see what your actual bill looks like and what a percentage promise would mean in dollars.

Before you vote

Pick the two or three housing claims that matter most to you, and spend ten minutes checking them against the record: nearby development, permits, orders, and your neighbourhood profile for the census picture of who actually lives in your ward. Then set up monitoring on your address — whoever wins, the promises made this fall will show up (or fail to) in the same public record over the next four years.