Posts Tagged ‘housing’
We’ve arrived at arguably the best moment to invest in affordable housing in over a generation. Will we seize it?
Wednesday, October 1st, 2025
… while we’re going to spend over $100 billion a year on defence outlays to meet our Trump-dictated NATO obligations, Canadians continue to place housing at the top of the list of their worst cost-of-living headaches. Those steep monthly rents, it’s worth saying, represent dollars not spent on all sorts of goods and services provided by Canadians, from food to entertainment to travel to education.
Tags: economy, housing, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
A solution to Canada’s housing crisis has already been built — we just need to use it
Thursday, September 25th, 2025
While some new construction will be necessary why not use Canada’s vast and underutilized existing building stock? The scale of this untapped resource is staggering. According to a 2021 study, 8.7 per cent of homes — 1.34 million units — sit vacant across the country… Beyond these empty homes… over 100,000 short-term rental units could become long-term dwellings with proper regulation. This would not just address supply, it would make things more affordable…
Tags: budget, economy, housing, jurisdiction
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When mental-health diagnoses become brands, the real drivers of our psychic pain are hidden
Monday, September 15th, 2025
The mental-illness health epidemic is growing alongside a crisis of economy and political legitimacy in Western societies. The distress and insecurity produced becomes another source of profiteering in the marketized economy where personhood is socially produced through individualized consumption… this enables distraction from social causes of distress such as poverty, inadequate housing, social injustice, discrimination, exclusion, and chronic financial insecurity; alongside militarism, and appalling levels of violence inflicted by governments on global citizens they control (or try to control).
Tags: featured, housing, mental Health, poverty, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
A shrinking population is hardly what this country needs right now
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2025
Are wages stagnant? Are houses overpriced? Is the health care system overburdened? It must be because of all those pesky people: the “overpopulation” and “crowding”… [But] Population growth has already slowed to a trickle… The problem… is not that we have too many people: it is that we have too little capital, and too little incentive to make efficient use of the capital we have. Fixing those ought to be our priority
Tags: economy, Health, housing, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Policy Context | No Comments »
Eliminating interprovincial trade barriers would add 30K annual housing starts: CMHC
Thursday, July 17th, 2025
A new analysis by the national housing agency estimates Canada could add 30,000 more housing starts annually by eliminating interprovincial trade barriers… that prevent the movement of either resources or labour in the residential construction industry… The Canadian Federation of Independent Business has estimated that existing internal trade hurdles cost the economy some $200 billion a year.
Tags: economy, housing, jurisdiction, standard of living
Posted in Debates | No Comments »
How governments can get back to building affordable housing
Wednesday, June 4th, 2025
… the financialization of housing is undermining our ability to build homes people can afford. We saw it clearly when the Ford government scrapped affordable housing rules in Toronto after pressure from corporate landlords… a new approach… means: Rapidly scale non-market and deeply affordable housing. Unlock and mobilize public land for housing construction. Ensure investments create good union jobs and build industrial capacity. Streamline timelines, remove barriers and build the infrastructure our communities need.
Tags: housing, ideology, jurisdiction, standard of living
Posted in Governance Policy Context | No Comments »
In the Ontario election, we’re not talking about money—which the province urgently needs
Wednesday, February 26th, 2025
Ontario is a rich province. We have the resources, but the provincial government needs to act with resolve in collecting revenue and investing it… Ontario also raises less revenue than almost all provinces on a per capita basis. Every year, it raises $2,400 less in revenue per person than British Columbia and $4,100 less than Quebec… Ontario’s low revenues mean less funding for public services
Tags: budget, economy, featured, Health, housing, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
What would it take to end chronic homelessness? Now we know
Friday, January 31st, 2025
Addressing chronic homelessness begins with offering stable, deeply affordable housing… a costed ten-year plan to end chronic homelessness in Ontario… [would call for] a new cumulative investment of $11 billion over the next decade… The Ontario government is currently spending a little over half of what is needed… It’s time the government stepped up with a real strategy, real targets, and real accountability for ending chronic homelessness
Tags: budget, economy, homelessness, housing
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Canada’s international student crisis was predicted — and ignored
Tuesday, December 10th, 2024
These are days of doom and gloom at Ontario’s universities and colleges. You don’t have to have a PhD to know why… provinces outside Ontario provide universities an average of $20,772 per full-time student. Ontario coughs up $11,471. To catch up — that is to be just average — would require spending another $7 billion a year. Ontario has responded by promising $1.3 billion over three years.
Tags: budget, housing, ideology, immigration, jurisdiction
Posted in Education Debates | No Comments »
What’s behind Canada’s housing crisis?
Wednesday, November 6th, 2024
Canada had a strong housing welfare system in the 1960s and 1970s, but this changed in 1993 when the federal government stopped funding social housing programs. It shifted toward a commodified system that emphasized individual responsibility… This shift was driven by two neoliberal beliefs. The first is that the private market is the most efficient way to provide housing… The second belief is that homeownership promotes autonomy and reduces reliance on governments by building property assets, although the reality defies this belief.
Tags: economy, housing, ideology, jurisdiction, participation, rights
Posted in Debates | 5 Comments »
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