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Why can’t Canada do a US-style defense production act for a major housing build effort? Let existing homeowners lock the value of their homes and tax assessment

Why can’t Canada do a US-style defense production act for a major housing build effort? Let existing homeowners lock the value of their homes and tax assessments so they can’t whine the country out of it. The birth rates are low, immigrants can’t afford to stay, and there’s more land and lumber than nearly any other place on earth. History will look back confused at that and scratch their heads. At least the USA has excuses for the really expensive places, we are running out of space in quite a few HCOL areas

georgeplusplus 3y ago
Because there's a lot of foreign investments in Canadian (and USA) real estate that lobby to protect their investments. Also the pension system relies on mortgage backed securities which never really decoupled from 2008 and with that comes an incentive to keep home prices higher because their tied to peoples retirement accounts. Owning a home shouldn't be an investment. Also adding is interest rates. The low interest rate era of the 80s to 2020 contributed significantly to home price rices. You don't see much demand by investors today because of the high rates and cracks in real estate are starting to form.
supertrope 3y ago
People move to an area and then want it to never change. High housing prices are blamed on landlords, immigrants, new construction, and speculators. Those who are comfortable with their housing have zero motivation to vote to lift zoning restrictions. Locking property tax values makes the problem worse (e.g. California's Proposition 13). Repealing restrictive zoning regulations doesn't require any government subsidies. Just get rid of height restrictions, parking minimums, setback, floor area ratio, single family only zoning, etc.
- SpaghettiCthulu 3y ago
  There is no shortage of land in this country. Why not just build out housing in areas that are actually low density, rather than forcing people to live in crammed cities with high rises everywhere?
  - supertrope 3y ago
    Why do animals crowd around food sources and not spread out into the desert? Land has little value by itself. It's proximity to jobs and services that drives lot value (and permits to build on it). There's a spectrum of housing between high rises and single family houses. Legalizing duplexes, townhouses, condos, fourplexes, etc. would relieve a lot of the housing shortage. And if someone wants to build a high rise on a arterial street to downtown, that is a good fit. Do we want to actually fix housing shortages or do we value the "character of the neighborhood" more?

georgeplusplus 3y ago

Because there's a lot of foreign investments in Canadian (and USA) real estate that lobby to protect their investments. Also the pension system relies on mortgage backed securities which never really decoupled from 2008 and with that comes an incentive to keep home prices higher because their tied to peoples retirement accounts. Owning a home shouldn't be an investment. Also adding is interest rates. The low interest rate era of the 80s to 2020 contributed significantly to home price rices. You don't see much demand by investors today because of the high rates and cracks in real estate are starting to form.

supertrope 3y ago

People move to an area and then want it to never change. High housing prices are blamed on landlords, immigrants, new construction, and speculators. Those who are comfortable with their housing have zero motivation to vote to lift zoning restrictions. Locking property tax values makes the problem worse (e.g. California's Proposition 13). Repealing restrictive zoning regulations doesn't require any government subsidies. Just get rid of height restrictions, parking minimums, setback, floor area ratio, single family only zoning, etc.

SpaghettiCthulu 3y ago
There is no shortage of land in this country. Why not just build out housing in areas that are actually low density, rather than forcing people to live in crammed cities with high rises everywhere?
- supertrope 3y ago
  Why do animals crowd around food sources and not spread out into the desert? Land has little value by itself. It's proximity to jobs and services that drives lot value (and permits to build on it). There's a spectrum of housing between high rises and single family houses. Legalizing duplexes, townhouses, condos, fourplexes, etc. would relieve a lot of the housing shortage. And if someone wants to build a high rise on a arterial street to downtown, that is a good fit. Do we want to actually fix housing shortages or do we value the "character of the neighborhood" more?