12-01-2020, 11:49 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-01-2020, 11:49 PM by danbrotherston.)
(12-01-2020, 11:14 PM)tomh009 Wrote:(12-01-2020, 10:14 PM)ac3r Wrote: Transit oriented development is a good thing, but it has to be balanced and planned right. So far, this region is not doing that. From what I've seen, I've mostly witnessed this as "let's build a fancy LRT and hope big condos and boutiques open up along the route so the city looks good". It's gentrifying the areas along the LRT but the region is not providing low income housing and adequate transportation to blue collar jobs that are not exactly near the LRT.
There is no doubt that we have a shortage of affordable housing. But I think that blaming that on the LRT is disingenuous. We had a housing shortage and we have one now. And having more mid-market rental housing (Drewlo, Market Flats, Ophelia, The Scott, 66 Civic) will tend to ease the pressure on rents, even if the units themselves are mostly not in the affordable range. Even investor condos help relieve the rental housing shortage.
And the region (and at least Kitchener) are making real efforts to create more housing. Much work remains, but the problem is not being ignored.
But that's really nothing to do with LRT.
This is entirely on point, if we hadn't built the LRT the only difference would be the unaffordable housing would have been built in Breslau instead of in the core. Here it just makes it more on display. It's also the case that there are sections of the LRT that do have access to lower income housing, Block Line station being a key example of this.
The other thing that's always missed about this is that transportation is almost always the second biggest expense. The last thing someone who is unable to find affordable housing needs to be told is that they would need to buy a car in order to live somewhere. The LRT is not the only transit investment we've made, the entire network has been expanded as well (or at least that was the pre-COVID plan....which seems now to be out the window).