Canada's mid-size cities are building denser housing

Canada's midsize cities are seeing a major shift in how new homes are built, with apartments and other multiunit buildings now making up a growing share of construction in places such as Halifax, London, Kelowna and Victoria. CBC News reviewed 15 years of CMHC data across seven midsize cities and found that growth is increasingly happening through denser development rather than suburban expansion. In several cities, multiunit housing now accounts for most new starts, reflecting higher land costs, population growth and affordability pressures. The article also highlights disagreements over what kind of housing should be built. Developers say denser projects are often the only ones that pencil out financially, while housing researchers, planners and neighbourhood groups argue that many new units are still too expensive or too large to solve local needs. Some communities are also pushing back against major tower projects, saying infrastructure and traffic cannot absorb the added density.