Financially and…

Financially and environmentally, ample research has shown that the sprawl-oriented development represented by Bill 23 is catastrophic. These consequences are also unnecessary. The Province's own housing task force notes that land availability is not the issue when it comes to stopping the housing crisis in Ontario, and that a pro-density strategy is the most cost-effective and environmentally sensitive way to address housing availability.

There are many other changes outlined by the task force that could be leveraged and which do not induce unnecessary sprawl. Though allowing 3-units to be built without re-zoning is a good start, this could easily (and more intuitively) be upped to 4 units, addressing the 'Missing Middle' problem in cities like Toronto. The Province could also deploy the parking changes seen in Kingston ON at scale, eliminating minimum parking requirements for commercial construction and implementing maximum parking allocations for residential.

There are tangible policy options available to the provincial government that can begin to address the housing crisis without creating further problems for taxpayers and Ontario municipalities. -