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Canada is facing a housing crisis. Could it take a page from Europe?

3 points by andy99 1y ago

deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
asdefghyk 1y ago
House prices can only rise when their is a shortage of houses. There needs to be more houses built.
- appreciatorBus 1y ago
  The last 10 years has been a non-stop parade of attempts to find any other explanation, any other solution, than the horror of allowing enough homes to exist in the places people want to live.
  - toomuchtodo 1y ago
    Setting more reasonable immigration quotas is faster than building houses. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ircc-immigration-housing-canada-1.7080376 https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ircc-immigration-housing-ca... > Federal public servants warned the government two years ago that large increases to immigration could affect housing affordability and services, internal documents show. > Documents obtained by The Canadian Press through an access-to-information request show Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada analyzed the potential effects immigration would have on the economy, housing and services, as it prepared its immigration targets for 2023-2025. > The federal government ultimately decided to increase the number of permanent residents Canada welcomes each year to 500,000 in 2025, a decision that drew considerable attention and scrutiny. That means that in 2025, Canada will welcome nearly twice as many permanent residents as it did in 2015.
    - appreciatorBus 1y ago
      They aren't mutually exclusive. We set arbitrarily too low housing quotas in the late 1920's. We could have fixed them at any time between then & now. Yet for some reason we are still trying to avoid it, still willing to do anything but. If it takes all but a few years, a decade at most, to decide that immigration quotas are too high, why are we ok with it taking 100+ years to decide that housing quotas are too low?
ungreased0675 1y ago
Have they tried building houses? Or more specifically, reducing barriers to housing development?
- jleyank 1y ago
  Ottawa is building homes hands over fists. The problem is that the houses are out in the (distant) suburbs and the jobs aren't. They're downtown or in the northwest suburbs... So, as nobody permits WFH, the commute is going to start looking like a parking lot for a bunch of hours each day. And I doubt they want affordable 300 sq ft condos or 1200 sq ft houses. These kinds of things were one of the reasons housing was cheap "back then". 6x inflation since the early 70's and 2-3x house size makes a big number.

3 points by andy99 1y ago

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

asdefghyk 1y ago

House prices can only rise when their is a shortage of houses. There needs to be more houses built.

appreciatorBus 1y ago
The last 10 years has been a non-stop parade of attempts to find any other explanation, any other solution, than the horror of allowing enough homes to exist in the places people want to live.
- toomuchtodo 1y ago
  Setting more reasonable immigration quotas is faster than building houses. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ircc-immigration-housing-canada-1.7080376 https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ircc-immigration-housing-ca... > Federal public servants warned the government two years ago that large increases to immigration could affect housing affordability and services, internal documents show. > Documents obtained by The Canadian Press through an access-to-information request show Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada analyzed the potential effects immigration would have on the economy, housing and services, as it prepared its immigration targets for 2023-2025. > The federal government ultimately decided to increase the number of permanent residents Canada welcomes each year to 500,000 in 2025, a decision that drew considerable attention and scrutiny. That means that in 2025, Canada will welcome nearly twice as many permanent residents as it did in 2015.
  - appreciatorBus 1y ago
    They aren't mutually exclusive. We set arbitrarily too low housing quotas in the late 1920's. We could have fixed them at any time between then & now. Yet for some reason we are still trying to avoid it, still willing to do anything but. If it takes all but a few years, a decade at most, to decide that immigration quotas are too high, why are we ok with it taking 100+ years to decide that housing quotas are too low?

ungreased0675 1y ago

Have they tried building houses? Or more specifically, reducing barriers to housing development?

jleyank 1y ago
Ottawa is building homes hands over fists. The problem is that the houses are out in the (distant) suburbs and the jobs aren't. They're downtown or in the northwest suburbs... So, as nobody permits WFH, the commute is going to start looking like a parking lot for a bunch of hours each day. And I doubt they want affordable 300 sq ft condos or 1200 sq ft houses. These kinds of things were one of the reasons housing was cheap "back then". 6x inflation since the early 70's and 2-3x house size makes a big number.