Incomplete by Design
A blog born out of equal parts curiosity, confusion, and a deep need to stay sane while living in a land of cul-de-sacs, overbuilt driveways, and mysteriously abandoned strip malls.
This blog exists because I love cities, but I now live in the suburbs and my therapist says that instead of screaming into the void, I should write about it. So, with her cautious endorsement, I’ll be digging into why we keep building environments that defy logic, joy, and often gravity. From absurd parking minimums to lonely bus stops with no sidewalks, nothing is safe from gentle (and sometimes deeply exasperated) critique.
Think of this as part therapy, part urbanist safari, and part open letter to whoever designed that one bylaw that requires three zoning amendments to get a coffee shop. If you’ve ever wondered why the suburbs are the way they are, or you just need someone to validate your rage at giant faux shutters, this is the blog for you.
a love letter.
Do you remember me? Back when things were simple. Back when a small non-profit with a dream, a borrowed feasibility study, and an alarming number of volunteer board members could still whisper, “Maybe we can build housing.” And then you arrived. You weren’t flashy. You weren’t a ribbon-cutting. You weren’t the glossy rendering with impossible trees and suspiciously happy cyclists.
Want Housing at Scale? Stop Treating Land Data Like Insider Information
Trying to understand land ownership in Ontario feels less like research and more like starring in a low-budget CBC crime drama (only on CBC Gem). I moved from Montréal expecting land data and instead got paywalls, outdated systems, and enough opacity to make Bay Street proud.
We Killed the Development Charges & the Pro Forma Still Died
I’m a non-market housing developer, and I have a confession to make: I have never paid full municipal development charges.
If Eviction Is Legal, Defence Should Be Too
After watching what’s played out this year to renters, I’ve decided that if Canada can fast-track pipelines like they’re emotional support infrastructure for the federal government, then renters deserve free lawyers funded with the exact same urgency, panic, and blank-cheque energy.
Why Canada Keeps Wasting Its Most Valuable Resource: Land.
We keep talking about Housing Supply vs. Demand like land is an infinite resource. But here’s the thing: land is fixed, especially in our big metros. Toronto isn’t getting an expansion pack. Vancouver can’t download more map tiles. And Montréal stopped growing landmass after the glaciers left.
Rent Freezes and the Great Landlord Panic of 2025
So I’ve just finished yelling at the sky after listening to Mike Moffatt, PhD Missing Middle podcast episode on rent control. It managed to frame the debate as renters staying vs. renters looking, while completely ignoring the real issue: the legalized chaos that happens every time a renter moves out.
Turns out my sons taught me more about housing policy.
So far in my 4 years of fatherhood, I've learned that my sons need routines. If bedtime shifts by even 10mins, chaos reigns. The next morning is a blur of missing socks, oatmeal spills, and an hostage negotiation before 8 a.m.
Housing Policy, Brought to You by Mom and Pop, Inc.
Every time we talk about the housing sector, an expert invokes the mythical creature known as the “mom and pop” landlord.
A Million Units and Not a Home in Sight
The word “units” in the housing sector is perhaps the most tragically overworked term in our collective vocabulary.