I have lived in Old East Village for 40 years. The overlay is not the threat.

I have owned a house on Elias Street since 1986. I have watched three waves of people arrive and be told the neighbourhood is about to change beyond recognition.

The overlay does not stop anyone building. It stops the demolition of the four blocks that give this place its shape. If the threat to affordability were heritage rules, we would be the cheapest neighbourhood in the city, and we are not.

The threat is that nothing gets built anywhere else.