Dear Editor:
A community is not just an accumulation of buildings. Thriving communities require infrastructure, efficient transportation networks, accessible health care, parks and recreation, clean water, safe waste disposal, education facilities, etc.
There isn’t a housing crisis, there is a community crisis, with municipalities facing problems of congestion, ambulance shortages, deteriorating health care, unsafe traffic issues, poor transportation systems, lack of water protection, loss of green space, parking problems, mental health breakdowns, etc.
Simply building more houses will not solve this. It takes careful planning and foresight to build a functional community.
To add insult, Premier Doug Ford now is taking back his promise to protect the Greenbelt and wants to send front-end loaders in to tear up the environment that surrounds urban areas and build 50,000 homes.
Is this an affordable housing plan or simply a back door deal with the homebuilders association? Has Doug forgotten that the Greenbelt provides us with the air we breathe?
Take away fresh air and no amount of housing will sustain us. We don’t need flashy slogans with “more homes built faster”, we need careful planning done smarter. We need proactive problem solving, not reactionary knee-jerk thinking.
Conservatives are a funny breed. They stress austerity and yet they spend foolishly.
Jay Wilson,
Guelph