LETTER: Bradford must build up, not just out, to support 'growing tradition'

BarrieToday welcomes letters to the editor at raymond@barrietoday.com or via the website. Please include your full name, daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following letter is in response to a story titled 'New housing development ‘hard pill ... to swallow’ for town councillor', published on June 20.

Bradford is one of the largest municipalities in Simcoe County, with a population of over 42,000 that has risen by over 21 per cent between 2016 and 2021. People want to move here, and for good reason. Anyone would be attracted to our sense of community.

We’re not giving them many options, though. The average home price in Bradford is more than a million dollars, an unfathomable figure for most. This is especially true for young people, with whom Mayor James Leduc has increasingly sought to engage, and workers, for whom homeownership is nigh impossible without substantial assistance due to the current job market.

This is partly a symptom of the larger housing crisis plaguing all of Canada. Basic economics tells us that low supply and high demand makes every available unit more expensive. But the solution isn’t to build a million detached homes and expand outward forever; we simply don’t have the space to do it sustainably. Town expansion needs to be done responsibly, with the preservation of our marshland and green spaces in mind.

That’s why I’m disappointed to see city council’s continued resistance to density. At some point, helping our town means we have to build upward.

That doesn’t mean we need to put 50-storey condos on every street corner. There are ways for high-density buildings and low-density subdivisions to co-exist, if we plan our communities around density from the outset. Mixed-use developments — buildings with both commercial and residential units — create jobs and housing for residents, both of which are much needed.

As long as Toronto is the largest city in Canada, any other town within its orbit is a potential destination for its daily commuters, visitors, and cost-of-living migrants. Bradford is not and will not be an exception any time soon. If Bradford is truly a growing tradition, let’s be leaders in building the homes that we, and the people we want to welcome into our neighbourhoods, so desperately need.

Callum McKinnon
Bradford