There are many things at play here.
But let me first state a personal bias, I like the midrise typology. I'm by no means opposed to hirise or skycraper, they have their place in downtown and at key nodes. However, I personally don't want Danforth to be a wall of towers.
Maybe a small rise cluster at Pape reflecting its status as a future DRL interchange.
But there does need to be more density on roads like this.
And midrise offers the best potential, with the added bonus that its more politically palatable than hirise.
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That said, I think there are other 'housing' issues that need fixing in other ways.
Larger units both for rent and ownership is an issue. Part of making that work is to find (relatively) cheaper land. This is not the type of housing I expect to see much of on Bay Street.
It may well require both legislative mandates and some form of government inducement. Though I would suggest the latter must be tied to the affordability of the final product, as the state would be unwise
to subsidize construction of $1,000,000 condo or $2,500 per month rentals.
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Something I think isn't looked at often enough is the need to break-up over-sized neighbourhoods by establishing new 'main streets' through the middle.
By example, in Scarborough, from Eglinton to the 401, major streets are roughly 2km apart.
If this were reduced to 1km, by punching say 'Surrey' into a through street E-W linking Victoria Park to Kennedy, or even further east, this would create not merely a new transportation corridor, but a location that would allow for intensified housing, and retail at a much more walkable distance for many area residents.
To be clear, I'm not talking about a six or even four lane road.
Just one lane each direction with a lane width suited to bus service, and bike lanes, w/left-turn lanes as required.
I think this would open up substantial densification opportunity, while actually enhancing the desirability of surrounding, preserved single-family, detached housing.
