We need to build lots of homes fast. But before we put shovels in the ground, we have to choose the locations where it makes sense financially, where people want to live, and where we can preserve our precious farmland, natural assets, and water resources. We can do all of this if we build housing in our towns and cities.
Building new homes where people already live makes economic sense. Spreading urban development, including houses, apartments, office buildings, and shopping malls, on undeveloped land outside of cities and towns isn’t just bad for the environment. It is terrible for cities and governments because the math doesn’t work. It requires long term subsidies for infrastructure. Sprawling cities lead to demands for more costly highways and other infrastructure, sucking up money needed for other public services. On an individual level, sprawling cities are less liveable; building within cities and towns means that residents have real transportation choices – transit, cycling, and walking.
Polls show that most people want to live close to friends, family, their jobs, and important services. Put simply, they want to live in existing towns and cities.
Building housing in existing towns and cities means we preserve precious farmland, natural assets, and water resources. As recent droughts, floods, and other severe weather events have shown, we will increasingly rely on Ontario’s farmers and farmland for food security. And more than ever, we will rely on natural assets and water resources to provide important ecological services, like flood protection. Building in the right places means we protect what is essential.
There is some debate about whether enough land is available in our existing towns and cities to build all these new homes, especially with a growing population. Some claim we have no choice but to build on farmland and natural areas because everyone wants a “white picket fence” suburban home with a big backyard and driveway.
The good news is that the evidence makes it clear we have more than enough land already set aside in towns and cities to build all the housing we’ll need, likely for the next 30 years. In fact, some of the demand, especially for detached homes, will be met as seniors move to more appropriate housing.
Put simply, there is no need to build in the wrong places. And, as decades of experience has shown, building outside of existing towns and cities actually adds to the housing affordability crisis. New subdivisions require new roads, new services, new everything – which costs a lot more money than building in the right places. And it means in-demand construction workers and materials aren’t available to build the homes we need in the right places.
In real estate, it’s all about location, location, location. The same holds true with building new homes. If we build in the right places, we check off the boxes that matter to people: living in neighbourhoods they want to live in, keeping costs down for municipalities and residents, and preserving farmland, natural assets, and water resources. This is how we create liveable neighbourhoods that are vibrant and affordable.
Specific recommendations governments can take to ensure we build in the right places are listed below:
Update planning laws and rules to focus on building new housing in existing towns and cities, and prioritize development on main streets, transit stations and corridors, surplus commercial spaces, public lands, and existing residential areas.
Update planning laws and rules to protect farmland, natural areas, and water resources from development, return to the 2021 urban boundaries, and not allow for any further urban boundary expansions for at least the next 30 years.
Direct any new funding for municipal infrastructure (like roads) to housing development within existing towns and cities, prioritizing main streets, transit stations and corridors, surplus commercial spaces, public lands, and existing residential areas.
Use taxes, incentives, and disincentives to encourage developers to build within towns and cities and not outside existing urban boundaries.
Change planning and tax laws to make it easy for property owners to convert their homes into multiple units and add new units (like a garden suite or laneway house) to their property.
Use its taxation, spending, and building code powers to protect farmland, natural assets, and water resources. It can do this by rewarding municipalities that change their planning laws and rules to ensure new construction takes place within their boundaries and prevent development from happening on lands that are beyond them.
Provide more funding for transit infrastructure as well as funding for operations, to reduce transportation costs and support the construction of homes without the added cost of providing parking.
Change tax laws to make it easy for residential homeowners to convert their houses into multiple units and add new units (like a garden suite or laneway house) to their property.
