Most readers will know that Nova Scotia’s population is growing very rapidly and that we are not building enough homes to meet that growth.
Politicians especially love this explanation, because it is hard to quantify and appears out of their control. But I think this is a puzzle — is it really true that our economy is under-geared toward real estate?HALIFAX RETALES: How local department store spaces have changed with the times This could be waved away as logical — we have many more single-family homes than apartments and, especially in an old city like Halifax, many single-family homes are old and in desperate need of major renovations.
I am willing to bet two nurses cannot outbid one doctor. But maybe four can. And I think surely eight nurses can outbid one doctor. That is the key part of the importance of our zoning regime. It prevents the natural upsizing of cities and then funnels resources into unproductive renovations because that’s the most profitable choice available under the constraints.