Canada is facing a housing crisis. Could it take a page from Europe?

[ALiberalModerate]

Rent caps/rent control only helps the people that get it and it does it at the cost of disincentivizing additional housing being built. I think a model like the one in Houston is much more sustainable in terms of building enough housing to meet demand. Its one of the fastest growing cities in the developed world, has a very strong economy, yet has managed to keep housing relatively affordable. You can easily buy a home in the Houston area for 300k. Its nimbyism, overly bureaucratic permitting, and overly aggressive zoning that is behind every high housing cost metro. Look at the Twin Cities for example, its a high income, strong economy metro, yet has relatively affordable housing - and without widespread rent controls. If it is possible in the Twin Cities (America's Canada), then it ought to be possible in Canadian cities as well.

 

[Evilroddy]

Given our (Canada's) recent problems with Trump-led America and given that as Canada gravitates closure to European partners in terms of trade and more importantly National Defence which could trigger the present US Administration or a future one to begin invoking the Monroe Doctrine or Manifest Destiny, I think Canada and the provinces should begin figuring out where to build more homes by locating near new arms and resources related industries located further north form the US-Canada border. likewise pipelines should be located as far as possible from the US-Canada borders (Continental and Alaskan) as possible to give these new towns and eventually cities strategic depth and distance from US reach. I would suggest that 60% of new builds be in or near new established urban and metropolitan centres but that 40% be located around emerging resource, infrastructure and manufacturing industries much further north. The Canadian government could then claim that this strategic distancing and dispersion of the population was a military concern and thus offset some of the burden of the coming 5% of GDP expenditures for defence mandated by NATO as building towns, cities and extensive supply and communications infrastructure in more remote regions of Canada where critical arms and munitions industries could be located. and better defended from both transpolar and southern aggression.

Cheers and be well.
Evilroddy.

 

[Surrealistik]

Rent caps/rent control only helps the people that get it and it does it at the cost of disincentivizing additional housing being built. I think a model like the one in Houston is much more sustainable in terms of building enough housing to meet demand. Its one of the fastest growing cities in the developed world, has a very strong economy, yet has managed to keep housing relatively affordable. You can easily buy a home in the Houston area for 300k. Its nimbyism, overly bureaucratic permitting, and overly aggressive zoning that is behind every high housing cost metro. Look at the Twin Cities for example, its a high income, strong economy metro, yet has relatively affordable housing - and without widespread rent controls. If it is possible in the Twin Cities (America's Canada), then it ought to be possible in Canadian cities as well.

If you review the article, putting aside that the strategy mentioned there has objectively succeeded, it's not simply rent control that is being done, but actual builds of affordable housing, which, no matter the implementation, is the key and core of any solution to a housing crisis as severe as Canada's within any reasonable time frame.

Having said that, as someone working in the real estate sector, the private sector cannot, and will not deliver such a solution, and it's not a simple matter of easing zoning restrictions and thwarting NIMBYism, though they certainly don't help, it's far more that developers just aren't interested and have pursued profit over the public interest for decades, consistently opting to build heavily monetizable high density condos over much less monetizable high density affordable housing. Far greater problems, particularly in relation to Canada, include extensive (excessive) property speculation (including from foreign buyers which taxes have somewhat helped curtail), and commodification of housing and their run on effects (REITs, AirBnB style short term leases and properties held vacant to minimize resale complications; both also partially combated by taxes). Coupled with recently heavy immigration over the past few years, the ultimate consequence is sky high housing prices and rent vs income ratios that are at least several times the recommended 25% of income for the supermajority of cities in Canada worth living in.

As a whole, the Canadian housing crisis truly and overwhelmingly is a longstanding failure of the market, and government sponsored action is desperately required to fix it in a time frame that doesn't span more than a generation.