What an abandoned hospital has to do with the housing crisis

Plus, Canada's role in NATO's expansion and a generational shift in the Hells Angels [The Star] First Up [By Manuela Vega] By Manuela Vega Good morning. Got your umbrella handy? [We’re in for a week of rain](. Here’s the latest on an ambitious effort to tackle the housing crisis, the inside story of Finland and Sweden’s moves to NATO and a generational shift in the Hells Angels. DON’T MISS Geoff Robins/The Star housing [This abandoned hospital has become pivotal in an Ontario city’s housing crisis]( Just two buildings are still standing on the old Victoria hospital campus in London, Ont. They’re boarded up, their interiors rotting since being abandoned about 17 years ago. But with renovations and gentrification worsening the housing crisis — and putting more people on the street — six non-profit affordable housing developers are honing in on the deserted land to provide some much-needed relief. [Here’s how the ambitious, co-operative approach is different from anything we’ve seen before](. - By the numbers: London home prices averaged $389,201 in February 2019, but soared to $825,221 by this February, according to the London and St. Thomas Association of Realtors. - On the home front: Toronto’s top housing official wants to see an end to landlords raising rents between tenants. [Here’s how the change could preserve affordable and mid-range rental housing in the city](. Olivier Matthys/AP Photo politics [How Canada helped bring Sweden and Finland into NATO]( “I’m a member of a Green Party and the Greens are a very peace-loving people, anti-military people in that sense, and our political party has never been in favour of NATO,” Finnish Foreign Affairs Minister Pekka Haavisto told the Star. So why — and how — did the country come to join NATO? The move of progressive countries to join is “one of the biggest changes” in the foreign policy of many in the last 50 to 100 years, according to Canada’s minister of foreign affairs. Susan Delacourt details [how Canada helped NATO’s membership expansion](. - Context: Several countries have expressed that Russia’s invasion on Ukraine has marked a political shift. - More: Canada, Finland and Sweden are all members of the Arctic Council — an eight-nation intergovernmental forum that also includes the United States and Russia. The council suspended co-operation earlier this year until announcing last month it would resume without Russia. - Word from Ottawa: “It was critically strategic to have them (as members),” Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said. Canadian Press Photo crime [The deaths of two Hells Angels patriarchs point to generational change inside the outlaw gang]( Maurice (Mom) Boucher made people really hate the Hells Angels. He oversaw the most brutal period for motorcycle gangs, spearheading a bloody turf war in the 1990s that left some 165 dead — including 30 victims that had no involvement in organized crime — and sent the gang into a downward spiral. With Boucher and notorious California Hells Angels boss Sonny Barger both dead from cancer, [Peter Edwards digs into the ongoing cultural shift within the club](. - More: The group is more diverse, tech-savvy, tidy — and impatient. - Watch for: The Hells Angels are planning a tribute run on Thursday to honour another former member, Robert Donald (Donny) Peterson, who died at 74, and a National Run that weekend made up of mandatory get-togethers. [Food Crawl launch] Eat your way through the best of the GTA. From strip mall standouts to downtown gems, nobody knows Toronto like the Star’s food team, and our new newsletter Food Crawl is your guide to where to go, what to order and why you’ve got to try it. [Sign up for free here](. WHAT ELSE Here’s how Jagmeet Singh’s dental-care pact is [deflating Conservatives’ puffed-up election threats](. Who is Conservative leadership candidate Roman Baber? [Here’s a look at his pandemic chaos](. [Here’s how you can save on monthly mortgage payments]( without switching to a fixed-rate mortgage. This 28-year-old dancer makes over $50,000. [Here’s how she can save up for a downpayment on property](. Home insurance isn’t immune to inflation. [Here’s how experts say you can lower those costs](. Bell or Rogers face off. [Which internet provider comes out on top?]( A man and woman are in the hospital after a [King West nightclub shooting]( Here’s a look inside the [Union Station evacuation following a fatal shooting Saturday](. A fire near Oshawa has jeopardized police evidence. [Here’s what we know](. [It’s time to end the Canadian dairy cartel’s food price inflating subsidies](. She wanted her son to have toys based on mobility aids. [Now, the disabled entrepreneur is stepping into a dragon’s den with this new series](. [My mother’s childhood abuse affected my life, too. But who gets to tell the story?]( Here’s what #MeToo misses, Leah McLaren writes. GET THIS Cameron Tulk/The Star [The Bank of Canada is hoping for a “soft landing” — here’s why a recession is in the forecast instead.]( CLOSE-UP Richard Lautens/The Star CNE GROUNDS: Scott Dixon made his way around the track before claiming his title as winner of Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto. The racing series returned to the city over the weekend after two years of cancellations. [Here’s how Toronto came out and showed its love of the sport](. Thank you for reading. You can reach me and the First Up team at [firstup@thestar.ca](mailto:firstup@thestar.ca?source=newsletter&utm_source=ts_nl&utm_medium=emailutm_email=6C53B63A8E3FAD70AD4EF13004527437&utm_campaign=frst_135135). I’ll see you back here tomorrow. 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