CanadaPolitics

Car centric design is definately an issue. There's an open mall near my place, and even during peak hours more than half of the parking lot is empty, two thirds more often than not.

Even then, I think the zoning laws and related regulations are far worse. I mean, every plot should allow for townhouses. Most are little bigger than existing houses from the front, but fit four or more families in the same plot. If even a third of single residential plots were replaced with townhouses, we wouldn't even have a housing crisis in the first place.

Though the biggest reason why there's a housing crisis is because people are allowed to treat housing like an investment, not a necessity. Imagine if you could invest in a loaf of bread. There'd be lobbies to mandate that all bakeries reduce output so that a loaf would cost $50 each and out of the hands of young people and low income earners.

Yep. My first house was in Acton Ont. It was a "war time house" that was built to house returning vets after the war. They just don't build houses like that anymore. 2-3 bedrooms (small enough that a king size bed won't fit in the largest), 1 bathroom, a kitchen/dining area, and a living room. That's it. You walk in the front door into the living room. There should be a mandate in place that forces developers that a certain percent of new developments (say.....75%?) cost LESS than $300K. Instead they are making these huge McMansions, with a patio bug enough for a BBQ as a backyard, and they cram as many as they can in. They're not building communities. They are making horizontal condos and selling them for over $!M. each.