“Homelessness & Affordability Crisis”

Spending on housing programs will decline by more than half over the next four years with the federal government’s $13-billion signature housing initiative leading to the construction of just 26,000 new homes, a new parliamentary budget officer (PBO) report says.

The budget watchdog’s report specifically looks at Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new housing agency, Build Canada Homes, and how it and other programs will contribute to the construction of new homes between now and 2029-30.

The report concludes that the $9.8 billion the federal government is spending on housing initiatives in 2025-26 will decline to just $4.3 billion annually by 2028-29, a drop of 56 per cent.

h/t Mauser

Andrea Griffith thought an annual income of $200,000 would be enough.

Enough to stay in Toronto, enough to buy a modest home and enough to build a stable life with her partner and new young daughter.

Only one problem — it wasn’t.

Unspoken is the White Flight from Toronto’s vibrant diversity.

House prices in Toronto are declining. But the city’s affordability crisis is far from over — and government policies will likely make it worse.

While most Torontonians know there’s a crisis, the numbers make it clear. According to our new study, in 2023 (the latest year of available data), a family earning the city’s median after-tax income ($60,510) had to save $216,240 (the equivalent of 42.9 months of its after-tax income) for a 20% down payment on a typical home of any type (single-detached, semi-detached, condominium). But even if that family could somehow clear this monumental hurdle, it then had to dedicate 110.2% of its after-tax income for monthly mortgage payments ($5,557) — a financial impossibility, unless the family can share housing costs (e.g. live-in tenants) or rely on financial support from elsewhere.

A recently announced funding opportunity for homelessness programs from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development would reward communities that commit to public safety—including those that comply with the Sex Offender Registry and Notification Act. At first glance, this may seem like an unusual concern for homelessness policy. But it relates directly to a growing concern among policymakers about a strong link between sex offenses and homelessness—one that activists have attempted to obscure.

For years, a vocal minority of social activists have effectively dictated public policy in Canadian cities. Homeless encampments in parks and beside playgrounds have not simply been tolerated, but recharacterized as legitimate neighbourhoods to be protected. Indeed, drive around Toronto and you’ll see signs that read “I support my neighbours in tents” outside million-dollar homes, where the families who sleep inside ostensibly have private backyards to enjoy. (Lower-income families without backyards, by contrast, actually have to share public outdoor spaces with those “neighbours in tents.”)

Nothing corrodes political credibility faster than pretending a problem doesn’t exist. Especially when that problem is one that voters feel in their bones. And nothing angers voters more — or accelerates their distrust — than denying the reality that life is getting more expensive.

You can stall, spin, or distract from this fact. But eventually, the bills come due.

Last week offered two striking examples of just that.

The new federal budget makes it clear that Prime Minister Mark Carney is unprepared to tackle the national housing crisis. His proposed measures are half-hearted at best and fail to adequately address the overregulation throttling construction of new supply.

Canada has chronically built too little housing to meet burgeoning demand, which, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), has led to a national shortage of approximately 2.6 million units. This is the primary reason why the inflation-adjusted price of an average Canadian home has doubled since the early 2000s — there are simply too many people bidding on scarce inventory.