Canada’s housing market is among the least affordable in the world. We’ve published a number of stories about the housing crisis over the years, and our latest article takes a bird’s eye view of the crisis as a whole.

Today in The Conversation Canada, Yushu Zhu and Hanan Ali from Simon Fraser University explain the origins of the crisis, what governments have done to address it and what steps are necessary for a real solution.

Zhu and Ali explain that many of the issues we face today trace back to neoliberal policies introduced in the 1980s, which aimed to restructure the housing system. Canada once had a robust housing welfare system in the 1960s and 1970s, but this changed when the federal government cut funding for social housing programs in 1993.

Zhu and Ali argue the housing crisis is an inherent feature of the neoliberal housing system, which has created a hierarchy that places homeownership at the top and renters at the bottom. They write: “Everyone is expected to participate in the private market to climb the housing ladder from renting to owning. Such a system will always fail to produce equitable housing outcomes.”

While governments have taken some steps to address the crisis, it’s clear more needs to be done. Zhu and Ali argue that the hierarchy between homeownership and renting must be dismantled. This shift requires moving away from viewing housing as a commodity and instead focusing on expanding community housing and prioritizing community-based solutions.

Also today:

All the best.

Eleni Vlahiotis

Business + Economy Editor
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