Every policy conversation about housing in Ontario starts in Toronto—and ends there, too. But with rents breaking $3,000, home prices unreachable, and land running out, we have to ask:
Why are we still pretending Toronto can house everyone?
Ontario has committed to building 1.5 million new homes. But if that goal is to mean anything, it cannot depend on squeezing more density into an already overstretched GTA.
We need a different map. One that unlocks the rest of the province. One that treats Sudbury, North Bay, Peterborough, Kingston, London, Windsor, Barrie, St. Catharines, and Muskoka not as rural outposts—but as urban opportunities.
The American and UK Models: A Blueprint for Ontario
When you can’t afford to live in New York City, you move to New Jersey, Philadelphia, or even Pittsburgh. You hop on Amtrak. You still have a career, a lifestyle, a future.
Same with the UK: Londoners priced out of the capital have legitimate options in Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, even Cardiff—connected by a high-speed rail network that shrinks geography.
Ontario needs to follow that model.
We have cities and towns within 2–4 hours of Toronto that could each absorb tens of thousands of new homes—if we build the right infrastructure and plan properly.
A Call to Action: Flood the Supply—But Spread It Out
Let’s stop waiting for Toronto to fix itself. Instead:
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🚄 Build high-speed rail from Toronto to North Bay, Sudbury, Windsor, Ottawa and connect the housing markets
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🏘️ Fast-track zoning reform in Peterborough, London, Hamilton, Kingston
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🏗️ Invest in modular housing factories outside the GTA, where land is cheap
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💡 Incentivize developers to go where the demand will be, not just where it is now
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🌆 Build walkable, transit-connected, high-density communities in regional cities—before they become unaffordable too
If we do this now, we’ll prevent Toronto’s crisis from repeating across the province. If we wait, we’ll create a housing collapse that stretches from Oshawa to Thunder Bay.
The New Ontario: A Province of Cities, Not Just One
The 416 isn’t the only engine of growth. And the dream of homeownership shouldn’t end at the edge of the Don Valley Parkway.
In the coming weeks, Square Footage will spotlight how each region—from Kingston to Sault Ste. Marie—can become part of the housing solution.
We’ll speak to planners, developers, and residents in these cities. We’ll push for high-speed transit, zoning reform, and economic decentralization.
Because building 1.5 million homes won’t happen with laneway suites in Midtown. It’ll happen when we stop thinking of Sudbury as “up north” and start thinking of it as the next great housing market.
📐 Square Footage is GTA Weekly’s weekly real estate editorial—tracking how design, density and development are shaping our neighbourhoods—and now, our province. Follow us @GTAWeeklyNews for more on the future of Ontario. #GTAWeekly #GTAToday #SquareFootage
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