NDP caucus chair and housing critic Jenny Kwan said New Democrats will use their leverage with the Liberals to ensure the government’s fall economic statement promises swift action to address the housing crisis.
Kwan said the NDP will press the Liberals to expand the not-for-profit housing market and build more housing co-operatives. She said New Democrats also will pressure the federal government to change the initiatives that accompany the national housing strategy, which she said have not been “particularly effective.”
I agree that those kinds of initiatives need to be pushed forward, but ‘the devil is in the details.’ To which, we are rather scant on ‘details.’ As I’ve mentioned before, the housing crisis is a massive coordination problem as federal, provincial, and municipal governments need to collaborate to solve it. If you are the federal government, you need to come up with a way to skirt jurisdictional restrictions; this is the main challenge.
To which, if we want to take the NDP seriously, they need to say what their plans are. Are they going to go along with Daniel Blaikie’s sentiments that the CMHC should take a stronger role? Are they going to provide financial incentives for municipalities to zone for more co-operatives? Are they going to convert office spaces into low-income residential? Who knows!
The NDP could be stealing the show here. People are more cynical than ever towards the Liberals and Conservatives. All the NDP have to do is show up saying that they are brave enough to stand up to NIMBY’s and willing to implement policies that are aimed at deflating the market. I mean, they are one of the best positioned parties to do so. Both the Liberals and Conservatives are very reliant on suburban home-owners for support. The NDP are not as incentivized to appeal to that demographic.