To the Editor

As I read the article on finding solutions for affordable housing two things shook me. Firstly I worry about my children and how they will be able to afford a decent home and secondly I look at all of the efforts used to resolve this dire situation and I realize that one factor that is constantly overlooked and people don’t seem to notice is obvious. We need smaller homes! Safety requirements aside why do municipalities like Dysart require minimum square footage for residential buildings? Really why?
The size of a person’s home is not for government to dictate and what this unnecessary requirement does is restrict access to affordable housing for lower income persons. Often these persons are from marginalized groups such as older people and I might say that this is a barrier to housing and is quite possibly discriminatory. Many dream of owning their own home but by having minimum size requirements on new builds we are denying many people that option.

It is only a matter of time before someone makes a human rights complaint or starts a Charter challenge so maybe our local government could be proactive and remove this pointless requirement. Builders trades … perhaps you can start thinking about how many smaller homes you could be building if the rules were to be changed.

Dan Gibson
Haliburton