4 ms·

IMO this needs government intervention. Not just in Canada but the US too. And I think it will require a multi prong approach. There is no one single solution b

IMO this needs government intervention. Not just in Canada but the US too. And I think it will require a multi prong approach. There is no one single solution but several needed concurrently. I think they (the government) needs to: 1. Build regional passenger rail from from major cities to smaller surrounding towns to encourage development. 2. Provide favorable taxes and loans to developers with a hard requirement that, say 20%, of the units being built must be below market rate that is tied to inflation(?). And involve a government agency to manage these below rate units. Such agency also sets that rate based on the person's income. 3. Increase the local taxes on empty units (say units that sit empty for more than 3 months). The longer they sit empty the higher the rate (up to some maximum). Use extra revenue to fund #1 and #2 above 4. Extra tax corporations that make, say, over $1B in profit from real estate investments. Waive it if they participate in #2 above. Use extra revenue to fund #1 and #2 above 5. On the low end of the market finance building SROs and very high density housing for people that are struggling and simply cannot afford much.

junofan 3y ago
Everything points to our politicians being fine with owners becoming richer and nonowners just being poorer.
iteria 3y ago
In the US, there's no real way to force a city to build if they want to and honestly, they shouldn't be forced to. I've seen a city build up fast and it's ugly when the infrastructure lags the amount of people in an area. I'd like to see literally any kind of rail, but for rail to be viable the Feds would actually have to enforce the law that passenger trains get priority. They're the only people who can sue about it and that's basically why Amtrak sucks. New rail is largely a pipe dream if we can't even leverage the miles and miles of rail we already have. Subsidiaries would help, since most placed want to grow, but can't. Encouraging municipal internet would help since remote work could bring money into more rural areas and kick start the process of making them worth living in. Honestly, I just think we need strategies to encourage people to leave cities and more to smaller places. Or at least establish new cities outside of the normal bounds of the city a bit further away. The US has the space. There's no reason for everyone to crowd together.
- TMWNN 3y ago
  >In the US, there's no real way to force a city to build if they want to Builder's remedy, now being exercised in California. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Builder%27s_remedy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Builder%27s_remedy>

junofan 3y ago

Everything points to our politicians being fine with owners becoming richer and nonowners just being poorer.

iteria 3y ago

In the US, there's no real way to force a city to build if they want to and honestly, they shouldn't be forced to. I've seen a city build up fast and it's ugly when the infrastructure lags the amount of people in an area. I'd like to see literally any kind of rail, but for rail to be viable the Feds would actually have to enforce the law that passenger trains get priority. They're the only people who can sue about it and that's basically why Amtrak sucks. New rail is largely a pipe dream if we can't even leverage the miles and miles of rail we already have. Subsidiaries would help, since most placed want to grow, but can't. Encouraging municipal internet would help since remote work could bring money into more rural areas and kick start the process of making them worth living in. Honestly, I just think we need strategies to encourage people to leave cities and more to smaller places. Or at least establish new cities outside of the normal bounds of the city a bit further away. The US has the space. There's no reason for everyone to crowd together.

TMWNN 3y ago
>In the US, there's no real way to force a city to build if they want to Builder's remedy, now being exercised in California. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Builder%27s_remedy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Builder%27s_remedy>