Commenting on Bill 23, the…

Commenting on Bill 23, the more homes built faster Act, it has so many problems, it's hard to know where to begin. I'm sure many of the faults have been addressed by others, but my own observations are the following: even a high school economics student will tell you that more homes built faster will lead to competition for materials and skilled workers, thus inevitably driving up costs for developers and hence for those hoping to buy a home. Even though greenfield building has its own array of environmental problems, redevelopment in the urban built up areas has, in my opinion, resulted in the large scale demolishing of affordable housing to be replaced by new housing which is not affordable. Also, there has not been, and is not now, any compulsion for a developer to build on land once a plan of subdivision is approved. There is an example in Waterloo where the landowner sat on a plan of subdivision for thirty years before building. So this Act is essentially provides an uplift in land values for the development industry without any hope of achieving its stated aims.