The problem isn't single-detached homes. It's banning anything else

It might seem like I hate single-detached homes. I don’t.

Personally, I have no desire to live in one. I don’t want a dog or kids or a garden or a lawn. So all those things people would if they were rationally selecting a single-detached home for I don’t want.

The problem isn’t that some folks want and can afford single-detached homes — though there are heaps of problems with the way we build single-detached homes — but that I can’t live in a townhouse or condo or apartment in most communities in Canada. The problem is that single-detached homes are the only thing you are allowed to build.

Our communities are this endless monotonous sameness of control and inflexibility. There’s this box we’re all supposed to fit into and if we don’t we’re a problem or we have to go to specific places where that thing is in fact allowed.

If you own a single-detached home and like your single-detached home that’s lovely. I’m not going to take that away from you. I just want a home that suits my needs.

I also think our communities would be a lot better if they included diversity and choice.

How many people living in single-detached homes very consciously and intentionally choose that vs did it because it was the thing to do and they wanted to live in a certain area and there were no other options. Or the stock of other options was awful because it gets built so infrequently.

I don’t fit into the box of suburban home ownership and I don’t want to.

That box hurts all of us, even those with single-detached homes. Difference, diversity and choice are good for everyone. You don’t have to want something for it to be worth having as an option.