Canada is facing a housing crisis. Could it take a page from Europe? (www.cbc.ca)

submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by Davriellelouna@lemmy.world to c/canada@lemmy.ca

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[-] theacharnian@lemmy.ca 5 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

So let's not subsidize sprawl. Let's make it so all Canadian cities look like Montreal: dense, walkable, pretty, and transit and cycling oriented. But the idea that existing owners should be given a pass is antisocial.

[-] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 3 points 3 days ago

My point is that the principle of existing homeowners funding infrastructure for new homes is only tenable when

developers are not creating huge externalities by creating ever larger suburbs with infrastructure funded by the core (take Ottawa as an example for that dynamic)
when the base of established homeowners is large enough to support the rate of growth.

In the first case, development fees based on lot size for new sprawling burbs are a reasonable way to push the market towards density.

In the second case, with a high rate of growth in a specific market, other means of redistribution such as government subsidies may be a better way to redistribute.