2021 federal election

[cherrypark]

It isn't about demand for SFH it's about SFH being the only type of housing people think of.

And sprawl is a Ponzi scheme. Building it decreases affordability but only hidden.

It is about demand though. A shockingly large number of people consider anything other than a SFH unacceptable for raising a family, and won't be satisfied until they own one. Maybe not people in my circle or yours, but when I talk to the broader population it absolutely appears that a majority of people have a vision that includes the stereotypical suburban family, with 2 kids, a dog, and a SFH with 2 cars in the garage.

You're right though that it's not sustainable. We simply can't have nearly as many people living in SFHs as want them, at least not if we're going to solve climate change. People are going to have to accept denser living arrangements than their parents' generation if we're going to have a planet to live on, but they don't want to hear it. There's a reason no political party is telling the truth on this fact, it's political suicide.

Along the same lines as what Dan said, it seems like a self-perpetuating expectation. People think of a typical suburban SFH as the target because its also the most readily available and suitable housing the market for most of Ontario's population centres. At least in KW, there is a real lack of a middle option where shoebox in the sky condos and SFH don't have some good to great quality midpoint readily available for people to see as an alternative.

From my vantage point as a current newly growing family in (albeit century home) SFH that would absolutely love Dutch style neighbourhoods and a row/semi home with more communal space and less wasted frontage/yard that most new builds offer.