Comment 115018

By RobF (registered) | Posted November 23, 2015 at 19:14:35 in reply to Comment 115014

I would agree that we need to reduce barriers in arcane and old-dated zoning regulations, and reducing the parking requirements is one way to lower the cost of housing units. The other is to separate the housing unit from the parking ... i.e. the parking spot costs extra and is a separate title.

As for the vacant land being used for parking that is a slightly different problem. Taxes are reduced for surface parking, so there is a perverse incentive for demo'ing old buildings for parking. To change that requires changes from the province.

I'm all for us doing infill on surface parking, but that won't necessarily address the problem of affordable housing.

Good for urbanism. But longer-term you still need to create some housing that is outside of the private market for people whose incomes do not generate a market response ... i.e. for those who the private market can't provide housing at rents they can afford to pay. That groups ebbs and flows over time. In Hamilton most people with secure, middle-income employment have a range of housing options. In other markets like the GTA and Metro Vancouver that isn't the case ... the crisis reaches well into the middle of the income spectrum. You could call it market failure, but it's a little more complicated than that.

Permalink | Context

Events Calendar

There are no upcoming events right now.
Why not post one?

Recent Articles

Article Archives

Blog Archives

Site Tools

Feeds