While I do agree that more…

While I do agree that more housing is necessary, not only now, but also in the future as demand will keep increasing, it does not solve the problems of today and tomorrow. Beyond the environmental factors of utilizing parts of the Greenbelt to build housing, the main issue is that there's too much focus on more detached houses and townhouses. A much better solution is to highly increase the density of our major cities through changes to residential zoning from houses to condominiums. This is a major necessity for a large city like Toronto, which could become a dense city like New York City, Tokyo, and others, if zoning is redone. The city itself won't do it, so the province should step in and do it. We need a lot of condos built closer to our office buildings, and also give more justification for even better public transportation in cities like Toronto thanks to higher population density.

If we want to be a leader in the service sector, through highly skilled office work, among others, then high density housing is necessary. Take a look at world-class cities for inspiration. New York City is a close example, but there are even better we could take ideas from: Tokyo, Japan and Seoul, South Korea. Both of these cities are high density, allowing for access to countless employment opportunities close by (which is also great for companies looking for prospective employees), and gives justification financially to expand public transportation within the city to the level of the cities mentioned.