New Report by the Broadbent Institute finds that 80% of BC Lower Mainland and Greater Toronto & Hamilton Area Residents Say Government Should Return to Building Non-Market Housing.

TORONTO - A new report published by the Broadbent Institute entitled, “Dreams and Realities on the Home Front: Canadians’ Call for Government Action on Housing Affordability” found that a strong majority of surveyed residents of BC’s lower mainland and the GTHA want to see their government return to building non-market housing. The report, which was co-published with Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Canada, looks at the housing challenges faced by Canadians in the country’s most expensive housing regions.

Key findings show that Canadians are feeling the effects of housing financialization. While most generally blame financial actors for housing affordability, many also point fingers at the federal government’s inaction. The report also found that three-quarters of all non-homeowners surveyed could not imagine purchasing a home in the next five years, while over eighty percent said they still hoped to own their home at some point. Half of all respondents said they had known someone who experienced homelessness.

Despite these stark realities, Canadians surveyed see a clear path forward through government intervention. While most blame federal and provincial governments for worsening the housing crisis through inaction, the pervading sentiment points to, “an appetite for more government intervention in building affordable, non-market housing.”

Read our key findings and download the full report.

The Broadbent Institute, founded in 2011, is Canada’s leading progressive policy and training organization. Our work is guided by the Broadbent Principles for Canadian Social Democracy – we believe all people have equal worth and equal rights, and that we all benefit from living in an increasingly equal society. We are committed to realizing the promise of Canada as a diverse, just, and inclusive society.

The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) is the oldest political foundation in Germany with a rich tradition in social democracy dating back to its foundation in 1925. The foundation owes its formation and its mission to the political legacy of its namesake Friedrich Ebert, the first democratically elected German President. FES established a Liaison Officer in Canada in 2008, in coordination with the US FES Office in Washington DC.

Key Findings

Overall, a strong majority of respondents from both the BC Lower Mainland and the GTHA want to see the federal government get back into building housing (80%), with 41% wanting the Government of Canada to get back into building more non-market housing, and 39% looking for a “mixed” approach to let developers build more market housing with non-market housing.

Housing affordability is a concern for most respondents (81%)-it’s either a top concern (24%) or within their top five concerns (57%).

More than a third of respondents in the Lower Mainland and the GTHA (37%) say that they cannot afford their current housing situation if the cost of their monthly rent or mortgage payments increased by 10% in the next year.

Most (57%) think they are spending over 30% of their before-tax househoAAld income on their rent or mortgage and half (52%) have at some point felt at risk of losing their home or becoming housing insecure.

80% of renters hope to own their home at some point, but most think it's unlikely (23%) or very unlikely (56%) that they could purchase a home in the next five years.

Most think that foreign investors (48%) are the most responsible for housing becoming more expensive, followed by the federal government (39%), real-estate developers (32%) and corporate landlords (31%).

More than half of respondents thought the following policies would really or might help them:

• Instructing the Bank of Canada to consider lowering interest rates (68%)
• Giving people the option of more easily moving to different lenders when they re-negotiate their mortgage (63%)
• Offering incentives to developers to build affordable, non-market rental housing (60%)
• Using government-owned land to develop affordable rental units with rent caps (57%)

Introduction

Housing has been a priority concern for Canadians, particularly those living in the most unaffordable urban centres across the country, for years before the COVID-19 pandemic led to economic shocks and inflationary pressures across the economy, sending rent and house prices sky-high. Since 2023, housing affordability has become one of the hottest political issues in Canada - as more and more Canadians struggle to find a place to call home, political parties are defining themselves around their response to this pressing issue.

Housing is a social good, like public healthcare, and is recognized as a human right in Canada under the federal government’s 2019 National Housing Strategy Act. Despite this, since major federal funding cuts in the 1990s, the federal government itself had largely divested itself from housing, contributing to today’s crisis.

Chart 1  — The federal government has stepped away from investments in affordable housing since the 1990s, only now increasing in recent years

Chart by Brian Clifford; Data from CMHC “Canadian Housing Statistics, 1955-2012” and CMHC Progress Report on Housing Investments

The disappearances over decades of public investment in affordable housing supply and the financialization of housing–where mortgages and homes are treated as assets for financial investment–are major factors contributing to the present affordability crisis.

While federal Conservative leader, and former housing minister, Pierre Poilievre claims that the government should get out of home-building as the solution to the crisis, the reality is that the federal government has already been absent for decades.

Where markets fail, it is up to governments to ensure that no one is left behind and to meet the government’s commitment to housing as a human right.

Today, housing affordability is the most pressing political issue in Canada. According to Leger’s August 2023 survey on The Housing Crisis in Canada, a clear 95% of Canadians think increasing rental costs and the lack of affordable rental homes in Canada is a serious problem.

Chart 2 — In 2023, a record share of income would have been required to pay for the monthly homeownership expenses of a condominium apartment in the GTA

(median household before-tax income in the region as % of condominium median market price)

Source: CMHC Rental Market Report—January 2024, CMHC calculations based on data from CMHC, Statistics Canada and the Bank of Canada.

In late 2023, Leger found that 66% of Canadians surveyed think the federal government should allocate more funds to its housing strategy. According to Abacus Data in October 2023, 90% of young Canadians believe the government should prioritize ensuring housing is affordable.

It’s a stark reality that ordinary Canadians face today. According to the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) January 2024 Rental Market Report, in the BC Lower Mainland region the average two-bedroom purpose built rental unit grew in rental price by 8.6% from the previous year to $2,181 while the vacancy rate was 0.9%. Vacancy rates were even lower for the most affordable units, where households already spend a greater share of their income on rent. Similar trends appear in Toronto, where purpose-built rental market prices increased by 8.7% and housing expenses have dramatically eaten into the proportion of household income.

Governments can address this issue by getting back into housing, but how exactly should they be getting back into housing? In the Greater Toronto & Hamilton Area (GTHA) and BC Lower Mainland, two of the most unaffordable housing markets in the country, the government of British Columbia and the new Mayoral administration in the City of Toronto have begun bold initiatives over the past year, bringing in programs that lead to decommodification, increased supply, and housing protections for working-class families.

With these recent announcements, backed by federal government support to increase their impact, provincial and municipal administrations are certainly getting government back into housing. But what exactly are the current affordability pressures faced by ordinary Canadians living in the two most expensive housing regions in the country? How are people thinking about these pressures, and what are their aspirations and worries around housing? And what are the government housing policies that, in their view, are needed to relieve those pressures?

This survey looks at BC Lower Mainland and the Greater Toronto & Hamilton Area, where housing prices have increased dramatically in the most expensive regions for housing in Canada, and where governments are looking to get back into the business of building housing and acting on affordability. It reveals key findings demonstrating the uneven effects of the housing crisis, and what policy changes are seen as needed and effective by those experiencing some of the most severe housing affordability challenges in Canada.

'Dreams and Realities on the Home Front: Canadians’ Call for Government Action on Housing Affordability' is a joint research project between the Broadbent Institute and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Canada.

The survey was conducted in the field by Viewpoints Research. See the full report for methodology, results and analysis.

Statement on Passing of Rhys Kesselman

The Broadbent Institute is heartbroken to learn of the passing of Broadbent Institute Policy Fellow, Professor Rhys Kesselman, on Sunday, February 25th, following a short illness. A major Canadian public thinker on taxation policy, Dr. Kesselman used his expertise to demonstrate how public finance can be used for social good. With the Broadbent Institute, he authored reports that examined the shortcomings of Tax-Free Savings Accounts during their implementation by the Stephen Harper government, and most recently spoke to the Institute on why capital gains taxation needed to go further in the 2023 federal budget. His notable work on basic income in Canada has added to the analysis and debate needed to push forward on improving the wellbeing for all. Canada has lost a rare giant in public policy, who advocated for change alongside critical scholarship on how to make a good and more just society.

The Broadbent Institute is thrilled to announce the shortlists for this year's Jack Layton Progress Prize and Charles Taylor Prize for Excellence in Policy Research. The winners will be announced at the 2024 Progress Summit, taking place April 10 - 12 in Ottawa.

The 2024 Charles Taylor Prize for Excellence in Policy Research shortlist

• Martine August, Assistant Professor in the School of Planning at the University of Waterloo. Her research focuses on the political economy of housing and the pursuit of urban social justice, exploring themes related to gentrification, displacement, community organising, public housing redevelopment, and the politics of social mix.
• Aaron Bailey, Program coordinator of the Eastside Illicit Drinkers Group for Education (EIDGE) in Vancouver. Along with doing important policy research that is led by, connects, involves and is informed by people impacted by the policies researched, Aaron's work played a major role in a BC Supreme Court (BCSC) ruling in December 2023 on Harm Reduction Nurses Association v. British Columbia (Attorney General).
• Lauren Beck, who holds the Canada Research Chair in Intercultural Encounter at Mount Allison University. Her work on place name policy is having significant influence throughout Canada at all levels of government in raising awareness of the white, masculine character of both the country’s names and the policies that protect them.
• Sheila Block, who was the longtime senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA). Sheila's research focuses on Canada's labour markets, public finance and inequality. She has worked as both a political advisor and a public servant in the Ontario government and as an economist in the labour movement.
• Ricardo Tranjan, who is a political economist and senior researcher with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ Ontario office. Previously, Ricardo managed the City of Toronto's Poverty Reduction Strategy Office and taught in universities in Ontario and Québec.

The 2024 Jack Layton Progress Prize shortlist

• Teale Phelps Bondaroff and Devon Black, co-founders of AccessBC, a grassroots campaign that successfully advocated for free prescription drugs in BC. It was launched in 2017 Devon and Teale, and was run by a team of 80 volunteers from across the province. What started as a conversation between friends at a kitchen table, became a resolution at provincial convention, and then eventually grew into a province-wide campaign.
• Morna Ballantyne of Child Care Now, a team are trailblazing advocates for accessible, affordable, universal nonprofit childcare.
• Change Course Canada, a leading force of student organising, led by students and listening to students. Their advocacy related to RBC off campus initiatives has united students coast to coast in addressing one of the major issues of the day, climate change and the organisations that finance oil and gas, and empowering students to take it on.
• Coalition of Child Care Advocates BC, an inclusive, feminist, membership-based organization advocating for high-quality, affordable, accessible child care system that serves the public interest - the $10aDay Plan. Made up of individuals and groups including parents, grandparents, early childhood educators, child care providers, community organizations, academics and unions. they work collectively, using research, public education and mobilization.
• LeBlanc & Co., Momentum Canada, Egale Canada, and the Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity (CCGSD), creators of the Trans Youth Messaging Guide, which has had a significant impact on advancing social equality and justice for organizations in Canada. It is a campaign that represents a crucial step forward in fostering understanding, empathy, and acceptance for transgender youth in society. By providing valuable insights and tools for effective communication, it has empowered individuals and groups to create more inclusive environments and advocate for the rights and well-being of transgender youth. 
• Progress Toronto, a not-for-profit organisation that advocates and organises for a more democratic, socially just, and progressive city.
• Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), who led one of the largest, national general strikes in Canada this year, with 155,000 workers walking off the job for two weeks to demand wages that keep up with the cost of living. The two week strike was the result of over a year of organising and mobilising public service workers across Canada to demand better wages and conditions, and was a noteworthy campaign for workers' rights in Canada.
• Sussanne Skidmore and Nikki Hill, leaders of United Way's Period Promise program, which has been working on the issue of period poverty since late 2016, when the first collection campaign was launched as part of a coordinated effort of United Ways and the labour movement across the country. 
• Éric St-Pierre, Executive Director of the Trottier Family Foundation, a private philanthropic foundation and one of Canada's leading climate funding foundations. With 8 staff, including 4 working on climate-related issues, the Trottier Family Foundation is a robust impact investor and strongly involved in sustainable investing. Éric has positioned the Trottier Foundation as a national leading stakeholder advancing climate change issues.

Register today for the 2024 Progress Summit: Making the Good Society, and join us in celebrating champions of the progressive movement!