I thought we were past this as a country, I really honestly did. Now the new Minister of Housing in Canada (the former mayor of Vancouver) is denying that house prices need to go down. Keep Urbanit...
I agree, it’s not fair or ideal. We face a huge challenge on the price and income side of things and it is not an area that is easy to solve. That’s why I think it’s smart that he’s focusing on the things that are (relatively) easier to solve, like creating more supply of more right-size, right-place, budget-oriented homes, and providing more access to cheap debt so that people can afford both those budget-oriented homes and the even more inflated prices in the rest of the market, even if they don’t get the additional income. I think those are not only achievable goals, but are going to improve the situation in a measurable way, even if it doesn’t “solve” it in the ideal sense and still leaves Canadians with a lot of (partially government-backed) debt.
To paraphrase Batman, it’s not the solution we deserve, but it is the solution we need right now.
I don’t know what his plan is on the longer term for dealing with Canada’s low productivity and lagging incomes, but I’m looking forward to finding out.
I agree, it’s not fair or ideal. We face a huge challenge on the price and income side of things and it is not an area that is easy to solve. That’s why I think it’s smart that he’s focusing on the things that are (relatively) easier to solve, like creating more supply of more right-size, right-place, budget-oriented homes, and providing more access to cheap debt so that people can afford both those budget-oriented homes and the even more inflated prices in the rest of the market, even if they don’t get the additional income. I think those are not only achievable goals, but are going to improve the situation in a measurable way, even if it doesn’t “solve” it in the ideal sense and still leaves Canadians with a lot of (partially government-backed) debt.
To paraphrase Batman, it’s not the solution we deserve, but it is the solution we need right now.
I don’t know what his plan is on the longer term for dealing with Canada’s low productivity and lagging incomes, but I’m looking forward to finding out.