After living in Kensington Market for over 30 years, Dominique Russell has seen stores and residents come and go. But, about a decade ago, something fundamental changed. There were fewer fresh food purveyors, more bars and restaurants. The last straw was the arrival of short-term Airbnbs—that’s when Russell co-founded the Kensington Market Community Land Trust , a non-profit dedicated to preserving affordable rental space in the market.
Change has always been part of the market—one store disappears, another comes in—but there used to be a stronger sense of stability. Housing has shifted, with long-term tenants getting pushed out so that landlords can charge higher rents. It’s much more tenuous.I founded another organization first, Friends of Kensington Market. That was about 10 years ago. Through that initiative, I became much more aware of what was going on. Then Airbnb happened—that was the beginning of the KMCLT.
—and we’re launching a community bond campaign. Plus the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation has given funding to Tapestry Community Capital, an investment non-profit, to help us.It’s unique, in no small part thanks to waves of immigrants—starting with the Jewish merchants who sold produce, fresh meat and other goods out of the ground floors of their homes. It’s an eclectic, porous community and one of the last open-air markets in North America.
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