Housing challenges, mid-sized cities and the COVID-19 pandemic

This article examines key housing challenges in mid-sized cities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Two questions guide our critical reflection: understanding to what extent pandemic represents new and planners can do respond them? We use example of Region Waterloo, situated 100km west Toronto one Canada’s fastest growing urban areas. Waterloo has many similar characteristics other within commuting distance large regions. In this article, we focus on two biggest (and inter-related) issues: inward migration from unaffordability. Both these long-predate pandemic, but there are early indicators that they accelerating because it. By rooting longer trends trajectories, reflection suggests solutions have long been understood address inequalities still important Rather than devising solutions, argue requires implementing ideas called upon for years by researchers advocates more proactive planning market deficiencies.