How rental-protection funds can help stem a vanishing supply of affordable units
www.theglobeandmail.com
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announces creation of $1.5-billion rental protection fund to help non-profits buy affordable rental apartments when they go up for sale

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).

https://archive.is/ocuud

  • Poutinetown
    4·
    9 months ago

    Would be great if there’s also a fund for new starts! Affordable units may not be available everywhere, for places where it’s not, denser new starts could fill the gap, especially since non profits could choose to focus more on quality/affordability/sustainability.

    • sbv@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
      1·
      9 months ago

      There are two massive policy gaps that the federal and provincial governments are failing to close:

      • We’re a few million houses behind where we should be. Our governments should be building housing. The homes can be sold or rented, it doesn’t matter. But it needs to be done below market rates.
      • We don’t have enough people building houses. They should be offering incentives to get more people trained, funding startups that are building housing more efficiently, and bring in immigrants who can/will work construction.
      • Canadian taxes financialize housing by providing exemptions for profit on home sales and write-offs for mortgage payments. There should be lifetime limits to take money out of the real estate sector.

      Both the federal Conservatives and Liberals are “encouraging” relaxation of gAtEkEePers by getting provinces/municipalities to remove restrictions on construction. But we can’t rely on the private builders to create housing that will be affordable to most young Canadians.

      EDIT: added the tax thing.

      • Poutinetown
        1·
        9 months ago

        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.

        • sbv@sh.itjust.worksOPEnglish
          2·
          9 months ago

          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.