Ottawa must deploy its fiscal heft to help build affordable housing as zoning is opened up
There are about 16.3 million homes in the country. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. last year calculated that, for prices to moderate, 5.8 million more are needed over the next decade – that’s 3.5 million on top of the 2.3 million that would otherwise be built. Look at those numbers and wonder why the Prime Minister held a press conference for 214 homes. Look at those numbers and consider the national housing strategy’s modest impact, 107,519 homes, so far.
I’ve been feeling this way for a while, but it’s like — and this seems largely endemic to the western world — governments are coasting on decades-old policies and mindsets that were great decades ago, but either fail or neglect to come up with anything inventive, effective, and successful anymore. It’s just little baby step legislative things here with a sprinkling of token stimulus there, because they’re afraid to cause even the slightest upset to anyone with a modicum of power or influence.
When was the last time a federal or provincial government implemented something that was truly solving a problem in a massive and permanent way? The only thing I can think of that vaguely qualifies is CERB, and even that was light-handed relative to revolutionary steps of the past. It was also popular and an easy political sell.
Many plausible solutions to the housing and personal income crises are easy to imagine:
ban corporate and foreign investment properties, forcibly purchase existing ones and turn them into public housing or sell them to small time owners
limit the
limit maximum rent increases to a percentage of inflation
raise minimum wage to a livable standard and legislate its increase tied to inflation
tax the goddamn rich already
implement basic income
implement and enforce maximum highest-to-lowest earner ratios, accounting for all wages, salaries, bonuses, investments, etc., to prevent any corporate tomfuckery
But these things would piss off too many powerful capitalists, of which many legislators happen to be members by sheer “coincidence,” so instead, we get piss-ant cheques every once in a while that ease the pressure for, like, three days.
I’m not saying any of these things would be easy to implement, but they’re not even trying. “Not pissing off the capitalists” needs to stop being a concern for governments. The capitalists will be fine, and if they decide to pack up and leave for greedier pastures, good fucking riddance.
They have to want to fix the problem, not just make easy political layups that create a facade of “doing something” without fixing anything.
I do agree that the governments are just coasting, and have been for decades. Some parts of certain governments have had their wakeup calls and are starting to make the changes needed, but they still feel few and far between. Either that, or many of them are having trouble waking up the parts of the government that they need their funding or plans approved.
I don’t think much of those solutions would have much of an effect. Especially without addressing other issues first.
Taxing the rich doesn’t matter when most of the rich get paid through investment loans and juggling stocks with assets, rather than having an actual income. Minimum wage increases are a band-aid solution that would need to be addressed every decade, presuming that it doesn’t tank the economy during the adjustments. Basic income is nice, but if important things aren’t affordable now, it would have no real impact on making them affordable.
I’m not saying that they fundamentally don’t work, but that it’s just not enough.
The most important thing is to make the things needed to have a decent life affordable to everybody. And of those things, I think two are just plain necessary. The first is a minimum level housing. Some sort of apartment complex that is free and safe, no questions asked. Basically a shelter that has separated units. Without the minimum of being able to have a safe space to sleep and clean yourself up, there’s no way a person can get a job. But with this sort of safety net, no matter how bad things get, the future won’t look hopeless, and almost everybody should be able to get back on their feet without needing extensive interventions.
The second is a housing supply that suppresses prices. I don’t mind foreigners buying houses, as long as the supply can handle such things happening, and keep basic homes affordable. Apartments shouldn’t cost more than 25% minimum wage at full time, and condos should be easy to pay off in 5-10 years. As long as the supply is high enough, it would be impossible to make a real profit from treating it like an investment, as houses are a non-performing asset. It creates no more value than what you put into it, and should thus depreciate if anything, just like a car.
Our only realistic military menace is also our closest ally, and they happen to also be the most powerful militaristic/interventionist country in the world. Our defense might need some love, but lets not kid ourselves that it would alter the most probable scenario: USA invading Canada for either climate reasons or its refusal to supply them with natural resources.
The situation has brewed for decades, and the blame can be pinned on city councils whose restrictive zoning laws keep the supply of housing well below demand.
The fact that Ottawa thought such a minor announcement was worthy of a press conference with the Prime Minister shows a poor grasp of reality.
First of all, as this space has argued, Ottawa’s aggressive immigration policy ignores Canada’s long-standing deficit of homes, as does its open door for international students paired with no plan for where they’ll live.
The failure of cities across the country to allow enough housing to be built has recently – finally – led to interventions by provincial governments in Ontario and British Columbia, where the problem is the worst.
One option is the numerous tax levers Ottawa can pull, similar to the 1970s, to help build housing such as affordable four-storey rental apartments.
While housing isn’t technically among Ottawa’s primary responsibilities, the federal government needs to redouble its efforts to make change happen.
The federal government could absolutely help but you are correct this is primarily a provincial responsibility and the province has all the tools to fix this but they choose not to. There’s too many domestic speculators in power that have a lot to lose.
They have the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the same people who currently provide mortgage insurance. In their original 1945 mandate, they were responsible for building housing for returning war veterans, as well as loans to purchase them. It was only later, in the 1980s, that the building part was dropped and they took up their current role.
So the federal government has the option of returning the CMHC to its original mandate.
Like I said in the comment they could change capital gains exclusion on a primary residence. Add taxes for homes past your primary home (like Singapore). They could stop with the RRSP withdrawals for home buyers, kill the first time home buyers savings account, ban foreign buyers without all the loop holes, add legislation around cooperate ownership etc.
Other countries are doing things at the federal level. For some reason our Feda only institute programs that actively make things worse.
Other countries are doing things at the federal level.
Of course, other counties often have it easier there. For instance, looking to our neighbours to the south, their federal government reigns supreme. It can push policy down on the states. That is not the case in Canada. The provinces are of the highest power.
For some reason our Feda only institute programs that actively make things worse.
Well, yes, trying to make the provinces look bad is kind of the federal government’s thing. Presumably it is because it wants to convince the public that it needs that supremacy, so that one day it can take it.
I don’t believe the federal government can fix the problem if the provincial governments don’t want help.
Considering the federal government is taking the brunt of the provincial government failures it’s not really surprising the provinces aren’t rushing to take action.
Both levels of government are responsible. Pretending anything otherwise is ignorant. The provinces have the majority of tools to solve this by taxing domestic speculators high amounts to force them to stop hoarding stock and in provinces like Ontario uploading public housing to the province as municipalities can’t generate the revenue required to pay for it.
The cost of living and housing crises are happening across the entire country so I would say, yes, it very much does become a question of federal policy at that point and existing federal mandates (immigration) are one of the biggest sources of high demand putting stress on housing.
Even if that federal policy is working with provinces to figure their shit out on housing.
Two things would work:
-Fix the fucking restrictive residential zoning regs. This is provincial turf.
-Build more public housing. This is also provincial turf, but the feds had been involved in the past.
The difficulty with point 2 is that there has to be an agreement between the feds and the provinces. If the provinces don’t want to build public housing, that’s the end of it. The federal government can’t just barge into provincial jurisdiction because they feel like it.
In the article they’re talking about the peak of federal involvement in housing being the 1970s. That’s not coincidental, as it was prior to the patriation of the constitution. If zoning doesn’t allow for the typical 1970s 3-floor walk-up apartment blocks, the feds don’t get to overrule those restrictions.
canada and australia are pretty much screwed. best thing to do is to return back all the migrants and learn to be self sufficient again. you guys really do not need migrants. just learn to cope. The UK did it during 2 world wars. We can do it again!!!
Many homes are vacant due waiting to make money via AirBnB.
Many office towers are empty and could be converted to apartments
Some homes are empty because they are investment vehicles and must be kept pristine to keep their value.
Homes are made unaffordable by Corporations outbidding anyone trying to buy a home.
Please note that all these issues are provincial domain. (b/c of division of powers) The PROVINCES are the ones doing nothing but it’s politically advantageous for them to make the Federal look bad.
Since JT is probably not going to win the next election, could he call the Provinces’ bluff and declare martial law on provinces that shirk their responsibilities on the housing issue?
With you until the last sentence, and it’s “martial law” not “marshal”. Handing over government to the military would be a very weird reaction to failures in provincial housing policy.
AirBnB is horrible, in Montréal there is families in the street and a lot of people struggling to find something/just live, and there is something like 13’000 airbnb, most of them illegals.
They are building thousands and thousands of condo, at 400k+, I checked some around me, they are 600k+, plus easily 400$/month for taxes, and have like 600$ fee every fucking month on top of that. Who can buy that? Or they are building “condos for rent”, you can not buy them, only rent them, 2k+/month. How can people earning 2k/month can live?
These are provincial domain you’re right, but I think the point of this editorial is that since the provinces aren’t doing their part (not by a LOT) the federal government needs to do more where it can.
The feds could start building affordable homes again like they used to. They have a history of building homes, I dont know why this isnt being discussed.
They could also study what other countries have done with their housing policies and copy what works. They need to take this crisis seriously and think outside the box.
Both provincial and federal government need to be taking major action here.
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If housing is to be a human right in practice, it makes sense to bring its protection under the federal government. By whatever means necessary.
I’ve been feeling this way for a while, but it’s like — and this seems largely endemic to the western world — governments are coasting on decades-old policies and mindsets that were great decades ago, but either fail or neglect to come up with anything inventive, effective, and successful anymore. It’s just little baby step legislative things here with a sprinkling of token stimulus there, because they’re afraid to cause even the slightest upset to anyone with a modicum of power or influence.
When was the last time a federal or provincial government implemented something that was truly solving a problem in a massive and permanent way? The only thing I can think of that vaguely qualifies is CERB, and even that was light-handed relative to revolutionary steps of the past. It was also popular and an easy political sell.
Many plausible solutions to the housing and personal income crises are easy to imagine:
But these things would piss off too many powerful capitalists, of which many legislators happen to be members by sheer “coincidence,” so instead, we get piss-ant cheques every once in a while that ease the pressure for, like, three days.
I’m not saying any of these things would be easy to implement, but they’re not even trying. “Not pissing off the capitalists” needs to stop being a concern for governments. The capitalists will be fine, and if they decide to pack up and leave for greedier pastures, good fucking riddance.
They have to want to fix the problem, not just make easy political layups that create a facade of “doing something” without fixing anything.
I do agree that the governments are just coasting, and have been for decades. Some parts of certain governments have had their wakeup calls and are starting to make the changes needed, but they still feel few and far between. Either that, or many of them are having trouble waking up the parts of the government that they need their funding or plans approved.
I don’t think much of those solutions would have much of an effect. Especially without addressing other issues first.
Taxing the rich doesn’t matter when most of the rich get paid through investment loans and juggling stocks with assets, rather than having an actual income. Minimum wage increases are a band-aid solution that would need to be addressed every decade, presuming that it doesn’t tank the economy during the adjustments. Basic income is nice, but if important things aren’t affordable now, it would have no real impact on making them affordable.
I’m not saying that they fundamentally don’t work, but that it’s just not enough.
The most important thing is to make the things needed to have a decent life affordable to everybody. And of those things, I think two are just plain necessary. The first is a minimum level housing. Some sort of apartment complex that is free and safe, no questions asked. Basically a shelter that has separated units. Without the minimum of being able to have a safe space to sleep and clean yourself up, there’s no way a person can get a job. But with this sort of safety net, no matter how bad things get, the future won’t look hopeless, and almost everybody should be able to get back on their feet without needing extensive interventions.
The second is a housing supply that suppresses prices. I don’t mind foreigners buying houses, as long as the supply can handle such things happening, and keep basic homes affordable. Apartments shouldn’t cost more than 25% minimum wage at full time, and condos should be easy to pay off in 5-10 years. As long as the supply is high enough, it would be impossible to make a real profit from treating it like an investment, as houses are a non-performing asset. It creates no more value than what you put into it, and should thus depreciate if anything, just like a car.
Food, healthcare, housing. The basic pillars of living standards. Every level of government is twiddling their thumbs.
I’d say defense is looking like something that needs some real investment in the coming decade was well.
Our only realistic military menace is also our closest ally, and they happen to also be the most powerful militaristic/interventionist country in the world. Our defense might need some love, but lets not kid ourselves that it would alter the most probable scenario: USA invading Canada for either climate reasons or its refusal to supply them with natural resources.
He means to keep the Canadians at bay when they finally get upset enough about these issues to start an uprising.
Oof, that flew way over me, thanks!
And telecoms, and the oil industry, and education. Fuck it just do something, ANYTHING to make this fucjing country a little bit less dystopic.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The situation has brewed for decades, and the blame can be pinned on city councils whose restrictive zoning laws keep the supply of housing well below demand.
The fact that Ottawa thought such a minor announcement was worthy of a press conference with the Prime Minister shows a poor grasp of reality.
First of all, as this space has argued, Ottawa’s aggressive immigration policy ignores Canada’s long-standing deficit of homes, as does its open door for international students paired with no plan for where they’ll live.
The failure of cities across the country to allow enough housing to be built has recently – finally – led to interventions by provincial governments in Ontario and British Columbia, where the problem is the worst.
One option is the numerous tax levers Ottawa can pull, similar to the 1970s, to help build housing such as affordable four-storey rental apartments.
While housing isn’t technically among Ottawa’s primary responsibilities, the federal government needs to redouble its efforts to make change happen.
I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This guy traits reminds me of Cameron Diaz , don’t know why
I love when the news tries to blame Trudeau for provincial issues instead of, y’know, the provincial leaders
The federal government could absolutely help but you are correct this is primarily a provincial responsibility and the province has all the tools to fix this but they choose not to. There’s too many domestic speculators in power that have a lot to lose.
I don’t buy this idea. The feds have all sorts of things they can do. Can they solve the crises alone? Of course not. But they can sure as hell help.
Let’s start with capital gains on the sale of a home…
What tools do they really have, other than money?
Really, what tools do the federal government have that can be used, and have effect, in local legislation?
They have the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the same people who currently provide mortgage insurance. In their original 1945 mandate, they were responsible for building housing for returning war veterans, as well as loans to purchase them. It was only later, in the 1980s, that the building part was dropped and they took up their current role.
So the federal government has the option of returning the CMHC to its original mandate.
Like I said in the comment they could change capital gains exclusion on a primary residence. Add taxes for homes past your primary home (like Singapore). They could stop with the RRSP withdrawals for home buyers, kill the first time home buyers savings account, ban foreign buyers without all the loop holes, add legislation around cooperate ownership etc.
Other countries are doing things at the federal level. For some reason our Feda only institute programs that actively make things worse.
Of course, other counties often have it easier there. For instance, looking to our neighbours to the south, their federal government reigns supreme. It can push policy down on the states. That is not the case in Canada. The provinces are of the highest power.
Well, yes, trying to make the provinces look bad is kind of the federal government’s thing. Presumably it is because it wants to convince the public that it needs that supremacy, so that one day it can take it.
You don’t think the federal government has any responsibility for the housing crisis?
I don’t believe the federal government can fix the problem if the provincial governments don’t want help.
Considering the federal government is taking the brunt of the provincial government failures it’s not really surprising the provinces aren’t rushing to take action.
Both levels of government are responsible. Pretending anything otherwise is ignorant. The provinces have the majority of tools to solve this by taxing domestic speculators high amounts to force them to stop hoarding stock and in provinces like Ontario uploading public housing to the province as municipalities can’t generate the revenue required to pay for it.
Not OP but it’s clearly both a provincial and federal issue.
The cost of living and housing crises are happening across the entire country so I would say, yes, it very much does become a question of federal policy at that point and existing federal mandates (immigration) are one of the biggest sources of high demand putting stress on housing.
Even if that federal policy is working with provinces to figure their shit out on housing.
Two things would work:
-Fix the fucking restrictive residential zoning regs. This is provincial turf.
-Build more public housing. This is also provincial turf, but the feds had been involved in the past.
The difficulty with point 2 is that there has to be an agreement between the feds and the provinces. If the provinces don’t want to build public housing, that’s the end of it. The federal government can’t just barge into provincial jurisdiction because they feel like it.
In the article they’re talking about the peak of federal involvement in housing being the 1970s. That’s not coincidental, as it was prior to the patriation of the constitution. If zoning doesn’t allow for the typical 1970s 3-floor walk-up apartment blocks, the feds don’t get to overrule those restrictions.
Say it louder for the people in the back.
canada and australia are pretty much screwed. best thing to do is to return back all the migrants and learn to be self sufficient again. you guys really do not need migrants. just learn to cope. The UK did it during 2 world wars. We can do it again!!!
Many homes are vacant due waiting to make money via AirBnB.
Many office towers are empty and could be converted to apartments
Some homes are empty because they are investment vehicles and must be kept pristine to keep their value.
Homes are made unaffordable by Corporations outbidding anyone trying to buy a home.
Please note that all these issues are provincial domain. (b/c of division of powers) The PROVINCES are the ones doing nothing but it’s politically advantageous for them to make the Federal look bad.
Since JT is probably not going to win the next election, could he call the Provinces’ bluff and declare martial law on provinces that shirk their responsibilities on the housing issue?
With you until the last sentence, and it’s “martial law” not “marshal”. Handing over government to the military would be a very weird reaction to failures in provincial housing policy.
Yeah there’s no way anybody genuinely believed he’s going to declare martial law over the housing crisis he doesn’t give a shit about.
AirBnB is horrible, in Montréal there is families in the street and a lot of people struggling to find something/just live, and there is something like 13’000 airbnb, most of them illegals. They are building thousands and thousands of condo, at 400k+, I checked some around me, they are 600k+, plus easily 400$/month for taxes, and have like 600$ fee every fucking month on top of that. Who can buy that? Or they are building “condos for rent”, you can not buy them, only rent them, 2k+/month. How can people earning 2k/month can live?
These are provincial domain you’re right, but I think the point of this editorial is that since the provinces aren’t doing their part (not by a LOT) the federal government needs to do more where it can.
The feds could start building affordable homes again like they used to. They have a history of building homes, I dont know why this isnt being discussed.
They could also study what other countries have done with their housing policies and copy what works. They need to take this crisis seriously and think outside the box.
Both provincial and federal government need to be taking major action here.
I can’t believe how far he put his foot in his mouth.
Trudeau most certainly does.