When a country as prosperous as Canada cannot meet the shelter and housing needs of the most vulnerable and marginalized, this is an indicator of a profound crisis. It signals the failure of the dominant market-driven model for providing housing and personal security. We are approaching a level of displacement that Canada has not witnessed since the Great Depression.
  • floofloofEnglish
    12·
    11 months ago

    There is a stark need to look at alternatives to the real estate market and to revisit and renew public funding for co-op housing, co-housing, community land trusts, supportive housing for people in need, and affordable social housing. If we had a participatory approach to a National Housing Strategy, instead of a top-down one, we could encourage experimentation with non-profit models. We could promote housing alternatives and make NHS funds available for community initiatives. We could strive for true public ownership of social housing, while making housing management democratic and community-based.

    Neoliberalism has taken such a hold on our governments that true solutions are not even considered. “Public funding”, “social housing” and “non-profit” are all treated as dirty words. We absolutely need publicly owned social housing, and a lot of it. Nothing else will make a real dent in the problem.