There is a way to increase housing supply. Does Gregor Robertson have the will?
The only path to increasing the housing supply and lowering prices is to reduce costs associated with construction, including the cost of land. The government can continue to make federal land available for homebuilding, but it should also ensure that existing land is used as efficiently as possible. Through the Housing Accelerator Fund, the federal government has signed agreements with municipalities to implement policies that legalize density, such as those pertaining to the construction of multiplexes. Future infrastructure and housing deals must go further to allow as-of-right construction, and the federal government should actually enforce the deals it has signed; it can't afford to pay Toronto $30 million to legalize sixplexes citywide only for the city not to live up to its obligation.
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