March 16, 2023

Attn: Jon Love , CEO
KingSett Capital
Scotia Plaza, 40 King St. W., Ste. 3700
Toronto ON M5H 3Y2

This letter is addressed to you on behalf of Japanese Canadians for Social Justice, a group that aims to build community support for human rights and social justice.

Our history of Japanese Canadians is one of mass displacement by systemic government and economic forces. During WWII our entire community was forced from our homes into homelessness and insecurity; some of those who survived that ordeal are still alive today. So we fully understand what it is to be without a home.

As concerned community members, we are expressing our dismay and disappointment over your plans to erect a large-scale condo tower at the 214-230 Sherbourne Street site.

In Toronto, more than 7,400 people sleep outdoors, in shelters and in emergency respite centres, as well as in health and correctional facilities daily. 80,000 people are on the subsidized housing wait list and the shelters are at capacity every night.

Your proposal does nothing to help the unhoused and low-income population who live in the area who need real and immediate housing solutions. The site of your 47-storey tower could have provided real answers to the housing crisis, such as rent-geared-to-income units for people who
desperately need them, instead of upscale condos beyond their reach.

We are advising you that we are in solidarity with 230 Fightback, and we will oppose your development however we can. We will continue to lobby the City of Toronto against it. We also demand that you give the property back to the City, who bid on it previously, in order to build much needed social housing now.

Yours truly,
Joy Kogawa
for Japanese Canadians for Social Justice

cc: Ryan Santiago, City of Toronto Planner
Councillor Chris Moise (Toronto Centre)
Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie
230 Fightback

We support the struggle for justice,
not just for Japanese Canadians,
but for all who suffer and call our name

Email: jcforsocialjustice@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JCSJToronto