[CountSessine]

As a developer, why can't I buy 5 or 6 detached houses, tear them down, and build row-houses/town-houses on the site? I could house 3x as many families and charge a lot more than 1/3 the price for those homes. Why can't I do that? That is an unalloyed good in 2022 with the benchmark home price in Vancouver approaching $2 million. It would make me money and it would be a tremendous social good.

I can't do it because it's illegal, that's why. And I would have to go to city council to have them change the law (rezone the land). And the neighbors will campaign against me and argue against density. I own the land - I paid good money for it and it's mine in every sense of the word, but the neighbors will argue that their preferences and whims outweigh both my property rights and the rights of other Canadians to have a home.