Sustainable housing is here to stay

Re Land-use regulations part of the affordability crunch, July 23 The development industry and the Fraser Institute continue to suggest the lack of housing supply and steep price increases for single-detached homes in the GTA are inherently caused by government regulations and development charges — that place lowdensity housing, the perceived North American dream, in jeopardy. Unfortunately, they continue to focus on the wrong reasons and the simple dynamics of economics.

In city regions where there is a high quality of life and robust population growth — including Vancouver and Toronto — the predominant built form now is higher density dwellings. This is not a coincidence. Government policies have led to the creation of more walkable communities that the public desires. This makes sense in an era of climate change — we need to use development lands more efficiently by using more sustainable building practices, especially in high-demand areas.

Stating that low-density housing inventories are at historic lows is something to celebrate — it leads to a more sustainable urban form for the long-term. Some developers have used their creativity and business sense to make the successful shift to building urban housing. True, more can be done to provide affordable housing, which remains a concern in the GTA.

The development industry must accept this new reality in the GTA and not go back to their bread-and-butter lowdensity suburban development that dominated the second half of the 1900s. Tero Konttinen, Toronto Re Cost of new homes has doubled: BILD, July 22 Tim Gray of Environmental Defence is correct. Urban sprawl continues to run rampant within the “white belt” — the zone between the Greenbelt and the already built-up areas of the GTA. White-belt lands were some of our most productive farmlands. They are being sacrificed to low-density sprawl — of a kind that can’t be serviced efficiently by public transit. Developers and municipalities have done a good job of perpetuating expensive, 1950s-style housing, not delivering sustainable communities. Andrew Stewart, Toronto