Expanding housing into the…

Expanding housing into the green belt is not the way to address the housing crisis in ontario. We need to improve density in the cities and properties that are already developed rather than expanding sprawl into natural areas. Expanding out into the green belt requires more people to commute from areas that are not serviced by transit. Therefore, we're not only removing valuable natural areas, and all the climate benefits they provide, but we're also adding the additional burden of burning more fossil fuels as residents need to travel to their jobs. Let's improve housing access where we already have infrastructure, transit, jobs and services, rather than placing people where they will be more reliant on cars, highways and burning fossil fuels. Each part of the green belt hosts its unique ecosystem, and can't simply be traded in for a parcel of land elsewhere. This plan also would cause a loss of access to natural places that are required for the mental health and psychological well-being of nearby residents. We can't just keep paving paradise, we need to apply smarter urban planning, and reuse, of already developed urban and suburban areas.