It’s good to see some kinda/sorta/almost direct spending on affordable housing being announced:
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the creation of a $1.5-billion rental protection fund that will provide a combination of loans and grants to help non-profits buy affordable rental apartments when they go up for sale.
It’s nowhere near enough, but it’s better than the neoliberal tHe FrEe MaRkEt WiLl SaVe Us shoveling that both the Liberals and Conservatives have been pushing.
The article explains how the number of homes affordable to people making $30k annually is crashing across the country (but less so in Quebec).
How many millions are we behind? With an average occupancy of 2.5, some 4M houses would house 10M population, which is the equivalent of 20 years of population growth in Canada.
4.4 million units is one estimate. I think the Bank of Montreal released similar numbers in 2021ish, but I can’t find the doc.
We dramatically cut back on funding affordable housing in the 80s and 90s, so our affordable stock has been shrinking even before population growth.
That’s crazy. 30 yrs of housing shortages