Why We Need Missing Middle Homes: Eric Lombardi at the Missing Middle Summit 2024

[@raguthanabalasingam2166]

We have chosen in the GTA to have GVA prices with the Greenbelt instead of Calgary prices without it. Limited land supply limiting supply of SFH. GVA is hemmed in by the Pacific Ocean, Rockies, US border and Land Agricultural Reserve. Empty lot in 905 is now over a $1M. They do this in 12 metros in US out of 50. "World class" city of Portland vs Houston, Dallas-Fortworth, or Phoenix. Prices reflect a limited supply of land by the government. This has nothing to do with missing middle. Nobody wants this type of housing except for the boutique condos downtown with one unit per floor for the uber rich that costs more than SFH in 905. They also tend to have 2 or more parking per unit. See academic Wendell Cox at Demographia.

[@craigceecee8762]

You're correct. That is why so many people are moving to distant places like Atlantic Canada and Alberta, as well as to rural Ontario. They know they will never be able to afford a single family home that they desire for themselves and their children in the GTHA. "Missing middle" is such because no one wants to live in them. They are just boutique condos without yards for children and pets.

[@HadoColin]

It seems like there is an audio edit issue near the beginning of the video around 30 seconds in.

[@MissingMiddlePodcast]

Thanks, fixed! Not sure how long KZbin takes to update but it should be better now!

[@HadoColin]

@@MissingMiddlePodcastawesome 🎉🎉

[@user-64962]

Most young people don't want to pay one-time house prices for a fourplex unit, sorry. Building a fourplex as infill is more expensive than building multiple similarly-small houses, and doesn't split the inflated land costs enough ways to make a big difference. Regulatory barriers don't help, but they are not driving the fundamental economics that make this an expensive kind of redevelopment, more suited to let a few wealthy young families live in premium neighbourhoods than a broad housing solution. Better to tackle the policy-driven reasons single-family homes and the land under them are so expensive in the first place. Many would prefer a fourplex over a highrise unit, but the idea that this kind of housing is some kind of gift to young people ignores that they're basically being held hostage by restrictions on outward growth that mean they cannot get the single-family homes they actually want. That is, they can't get them without leaving big metro areas entirely (rather than moving to the suburbs like previous generations did).