Housing is an integral part to elevating and maintaining a quality of life to ensure a healthy and productive citizenship. The overwhelming number of citizens in Montreal and the United States who are unable to find housing that is less than 33% of their income stifles that economic progression of individuals and the society in which these individuals live. The ability for cities to dictate their own plans for creating and maintaining affordable housing without mandates from the federal vacillates among the various levels of government with each level having certain positive and negative elements. Although city autonomy can provide tailored solutions, the financial and logistical pitfalls of a narrow city-centered approach to affordable housing will not eradicate the affordable housing crisis in any country. In this paper, specific housing policies of two North American cities in or near Montreal and Detroit are deconstructed to provide insight into the financing and creation of affordable housing and examination of the effect on the sustainability of the areas. This paper compares and contrasts economic development policies initiated by the city of Detroit and their effects on surrounding suburbs with the legal framework of affordable housing in Quebec.