I'll speak about Toronto, since it's the city I know the best. You could easily resolve the housing scarcity by densifying the suburbs, but it's artifically con

I'll speak about Toronto, since it's the city I know the best. You could easily resolve the housing scarcity by densifying the suburbs, but it's artifically constrained because: (a) It's legitimately hard to retroactively densify suburban areas, especially the newer suburbs like Markham, where the inefficient use of space combines with the restricted mixed-use zoning, would make re-densified residential areas difficult to support with the sparse commercial/public/transportation resources. I think it's possible, but requires some aggressive changes. (b) Politicians don't want to risk angering the elderly, NIMBY, home-owning middle-class that compose the voting base. I think it can be done, but the political incentives are not appealing. Still, we are seeing some hopeful signs from increasingly radicalized youth, cut off from the housing market, being converted into potential political capital by the NDP.