A home is more than a roof.
A cheap home is not much help if you need a costly car for every trip. We want homes near jobs, shops, parks and schools. We want safe streets and good buses and trains.
This is what we mean by New Urbanism: build places that make daily life better. Let homes, shops and public spaces share a neighbourhood. Give people more ways to get around.
Let people choose.
Some people want a house with a yard. Others want a small flat, a row house or a home above a shop. Rules should make room for all of them.
End zoning that allows only one kind of home or use. Zoning means the rules for what you can build on a piece of land. Set clear rules for noise, safety and size. Do not use those rules to shut new people out.
New homes also need water, sewers and safe ways to travel. Plan and pay for those needs too.
Homes to rent. Homes to own.
Both must be within reach. Owning property can help people build wealth. More people should have that chance. The goal is a low cost to get in, not a lack of homes that drives prices up.
A home on rented land is not the same as owning the land. Buyers need to know what they own, what fees they owe and what rights they have.
Make the case with care.
A Canadian study links stricter rules with higher prices and less growth in the number of homes. A US study links limits on housing with lost growth. But a later paper disputes parts of the US result. Read both.
We cannot turn a disputed US model into a claim about lost Canadian wealth. The case for better places must rest on facts that hold up.
Count the full price.
Our home-cost study will follow the bill from factory to move-in day. It will count land, delivery, tests, permits, loans and site work. It will also ask what the buyer gets to own. Our first four price leads are ready to read. Full site costs are still being checked.
Make room. Give people a way in.
Let small lots, flats and homes over shops be normal choices. Drop parking rules that force people to buy space they do not need. Give safe small homes a clear path to a site, a loan and a title. Keep good rental homes in the plan too.