(This article originally appeared on London Inc. Weekly email that was sent on Dec 6, 2024 and was written by Kieran Delamont, Associate Editor, London Inc.)
London’s planning committee agreed to add up to 2,000 hectares of residential land inside the Urban Growth Boundary this week, a move that is being celebrated by homebuilders and housing advocates. “An ample supply of land allows the market to work better, creates greater affordability, choice and the ability for people and families to stay in London,” said London Home Builders’ Association CEO Jared Zaifman. There is a good deal of concern that much of London’s population growth is heading to bedroom communities outside the city’s boundaries (Komoka, Ilderton and so on) and that is straining the city’s resources (since many of these folks work in London) while taking tax revenues elsewhere. So, in the end, the city ― also eager to hit its housing goals ― was happy to approve a request from the province to add 2,000 hectares within the urban growth boundary. Council will have to vote on it and, if approved, it will need the provincial go-ahead.
The upshot: Expanding urban growth boundaries is becoming a province-wide issue, with a lot of cities figuring they need to be willing to do this to hit housing targets. There are arguments for and against. Developers and housing-focused politicians like it because it adds land on which it’s easy to build upon, and to build things like single-family homes that buyers want. Environmental advocates don’t like it because it encourages sprawl. And for city governments, it can offer good and bad aspects: it opens up land for housing (which they view as good), but by its very nature it encourages cities to sprawl outwards, and sprawl can be expensive ― just ask the City of Ottawa, which is now facing a surprise $590 million bill to run infrastructure out to a subdivision that it tinkered with the urban growth boundary for. So, there’s pluses and minuses to be found, with economic inefficiencies to be managed on either side of the equation.
