Municipalities can’t afford the cost of sprawl

May 9, 2023

QUEEN'S PARK — Ontario Greens leader and MPP for Guelph Mike Schreiner released the following statement in response to reports that sprawl development in King Township and East Gwillimbury could place unsustainable demand on Newmarket’s infrastructure and amenities.

“Doug Ford’s sprawl-at-all-costs agenda has never been about building more affordable homes.

In fact, it’s going to make the housing affordability crisis worse.

Why? Because municipalities and local residents can’t afford to shoulder the cost of sprawl.

Unserviced sprawl developments have no infrastructure – no roads, no sewers, no transit.

That’s why it costs municipalities more than twice as much to service a home in a sprawl development than one built within an existing urban boundary.

So, why is the Ford government imposing a sprawl agenda that not only paves over the Greenbelt, but takes money out of people’s and municipalities’ pockets?

Municipalities want to build affordable, connected communities where people can live, work and play. But without support from the province, they’re being set up for failure.

The Ford government must reverse course and make it easier to build in existing urban boundaries by

• allowing for fourplexes and four storey walk-up apartments in neighbourhoods as of right; and
• allowing for mid-rise developments ranging from six to 11 storeys on transit corridors and main streets.

And they must also offer municipalities financial support to fund the infrastructure needs associated with their imposed housing targets.

Municipalities know what their residents need. They know what they need to do in order to make housing more affordable and more accessible. But they cannot do it alone.

Ontario Greens will continue pushing the Premier to stand up for an entire generation of young people struggling to find a great home by investing in connected, affordable communities where people actually want to live.”

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