The Greenbelt scandal has claimed another casualty

Plus, a hospital building affordable housing and the single-family home in a sea of condos [The Star] First Up [By Kevin Jiang] By Kevin Jiang Good morning. Here’s the latest on the latest casualty of the Greenbelt scandal, a hospital network dipping its toes into affordable housing and the tale of the “little house that never got sold.” DON’T MISS Canadiian Press/Cole Burston ONTARIO POLITICS [Doug Ford’s office says it’s severing “formal” ties with another key aide amid the Greenbelt scandal]( Fallout from Premier Doug Ford’s collapsed $8 billion Greenbelt land swap plans has led to another casualty. Amin Massoudi, Ford’s former principal secretary and an aide he once described as “family,” join two cabinet ministers and two top staffers forced out over the scandal. Ford’s office said Massoudi “provided communications support and was the premier’s primary speech writer.” In winter of 2020, the aid was one of three Ford loyalists to meet wealthy developer and Greenbelt land owner Shakir Rehmatullah for massages in Las Vegas. [Take a closer look at the details of his departure](. - Go deeper: As the Globe and Mail and the Trillium reported Wednesday, Massoudi’s firm garnered $237,300 in communications contracts from the Tories in 2022-23, according to annual public accounts. - Context: The other two members of the Las Vegas trip, including public and business service cabinet minister Kaleed Rasheed and Ford’s housing policy advisor Jae Truesdell, [have already resigned](. Andrew Francis Wallace/The Star housing [Why a hospital network is turning a parking lot into affordable housing]( You typically don’t think of the hospital when you imagine affordable housing — but these are unusual times. An initiative led by the University Health Network, in partnership with the city and United Way Greater Toronto, will see a former UHN parking lot in Parkdale converted into 51 affordable living units, Mahdis Habibinia reports. The units will feature embedded health and social supports, with priority given to UHN patients who frequent emergency departments and are on the city’s housing waitlist. The new, four-storey building is the first of several agreed upon by UHN, which also includes constructing over 500 homes at seven sites across the city. [Here’s what you need to know](. - Meanwhile: As Toronto struggles to figure out affordable housing, it’s looking for hints from other cities around the world. [Here are three that have housing figured out and what can Canada learn from them?]( - Jaime Watt’s take: As Toronto’s opioid crisis continues to escalate, there’s only so much supervised consumption sites can do. [We need affordable housing — almost unanimously, experts say drug users can’t recover without a stable roof over their heads](. Lance McMillan/The Star real estate [This tiny brick house surrounded by condos at Yonge and Eglinton finally sold after half a century]( The last, tiny vestige of a bygone midtown neighbourhood may soon be no more, after it was finally sold following many unsolicited offers — for a million dollars over asking. Realtors compared the charming red-brick home, which housed the same family for half a century, to the “little house that never got sold” from the movie “Up.” Unlike the animated protagonist Mr. Fredricksen, the IRL homeowner decided to sell because they’re getting older and wanted to downsize to a nearby apartment, May Warren reports. Instead of remaining a single-family home, city bylaw allows the residence’s 32-by-90-foot lot to be converted into a multiplex apartment building. [Follow the full story here](. - By the numbers: The tiny brick home was first listed on Labour Day for $1.495 million. But after receiving numerous higher offers, the owner decided to settle for a neat $2.65 million. - Meanwhile: Development in midtown Toronto is booming, leading Ford’s provincial government to overrule the city’s plans for the region and downtown — [allowing for taller and denser condo buildings to be built in 2019](. WHAT ELSE Olivia Chow will pitch Chrystia Freeland today on [fixing Toronto’s pandemic-ravaged finances](. The updated Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine has been approved by Health Canada. [Here’s what you need to know](. Hundreds have signed an open letter [condemning LGBTQ+ hate and Islamophobia at Ontario schools](. The University of Alberta has closed an endowment fund [named after the veteran in Parliament’s Nazi controversy](. [The Toronto subway-pusher “likely did not know the wrongfulness of her actions,”]( a CAMH psychiatrist testified. The WSIB headquarters is moving from Toronto to London — [and it’s getting mixed reviews](. A senior Toronto cop has [pleaded guilty in an officer promotion cheating scandal](. Saskatchewan’s planning to use the [notwithstanding clause over pronouns in school](. Tony the swan is attacking Sea-Doos in Toronto’s harbour. [What’s got him so angry?]( Canada’s print flyer industry is failing. [Can — and should — it be saved?]( The Blue Jays’ magic number dropped after Toronto beat Yankees on Thursday. [We break down the AL wild-card race here](. Deep Left Field Daily: That’s more like it — [TOR 6 NYY 0!]( POV Richard Lautens/The Star [Can Metrolinx actually finish any of its Toronto transit projects? It’s anyone’s guess.]( CLOSE-UP The Canadian Press/Neil Hanna, National Museums Scotland SCOTLAND: Members of B.C.’s Nisga'a Nation visit the Ni'isjoohl memorial pole at the National Museum of Scotland. [The museum is returning the pole to the tiny Indigenous village where it was stolen almost 100 years ago today, one day before Canada’s National Day for Truth and Reconciliation](. 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_200419). I’ll see you back here tomorrow. If you're not enjoying these emails, please tell us how we can make them better by emailing newsletterfeedback@thestar.ca. Or, if you'd prefer, you can unsubscribe from this newsletter by clicking the first link below. [Unsubscribe From This Newsletter]( [Sign Up for More Newsletters and Email Alerts]( [View in Browser]( Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. 8 Spadina Avenue, 10th Floor, Toronto, ON M5V 0S8. 416-367-2000 [PRIVACY POLICY](