“Homelessness & Affordability Crisis”

OTTAWA – Canada’s national housing agency has warned that millions of homes must be built within less than a decade to balance the housing market, but even it seems doubtful that its own target is achievable.

The current pace of housing starts is not just lagging.

It’s headed in the wrong direction.

Last year, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said 5.8 million homes would need to be built by 2030 to restore housing affordability for Canadians. The current pace of building only puts the country on track to construct 2.3 millions homes by then.

Would you pay $2,000 to live in a 200-square-foot unit in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside?

That’s the offer that was briefly advertised in a slick TikTok video for a unit in the Lotus Hotel at Abbott and Pender streets, and swiftly drew online backlash.

“Morning, it’s police! Collect all your stuff!”

At 7.30am on a recent Friday, two policemen shouted commands into tents along a downtown sidewalk in downtown San Diego. One barefoot man startled awake and remarked that someone had stolen his shoes. Next to him, Moses Miramontes, 47, was frantically tying up his tent and belongings.

… Or consider a prospective lower-income renter in Toronto. Scanning the offerings turns up one that might once have served such a person. It has a good location but is in a basement, measures just 450 square feet and, at least according to the photos in the listing, admits natural light only through the door. It costs $1,900 per month.

Would anyone argue that if the unit cost $1,520 instead that would make it affordable? To cover even that lower price without exceeding the recommended 30 per cent of pretax income on housing would require the renter to earn about $61,000.

With the Australian government hiring a consultant for advice on dealing with consultants, Momus, the Greek god of satire, retreats helplessly from the stage. Which is too bad since we could use a satirical hand, or mouth, when told Canada’s minister of immigration says we must bring in an endless stream of immigrants to build houses for the endless stream of immigrants we’re bringing in to build … um … hang on a second.

Joe Pobia has been living in a bachelor suite in a Commercial Drive apartment for 10 years.

His rent was $770 a month when he moved in and, after moderate increases each year, he’s now paying $1,070. But after an eviction notice in April, which stated his suite was needed to house another resident property manager, the construction worker is now looking for a home in the most expensive place to rent in Canada.

Lay the blame where it belongs, Trudeau and his crony capitalist friends.

People living in their vehicles in Squamish, B.C., are running out of places to park their cars overnight after the local Walmart announced it would no longer allow long-term parking.

The notice comes two years after the district council in Squamish, located about 64 kilometres north of Vancouver, passed a bylaw prohibiting people who live in their vehicles from spending the night parked on municipal streets.

The latest restriction means there are fewer and fewer places to sleep for people who can’t live in a home for any number of reasons.

With many Canadians struggling to find a place to live with rising home prices and interest rates, governments at both provincial and municipal levels are trying new methods — but those in the industry say building more homes is the key factor to actually solving Canada’s housing crisis.

The calls to keep the focus on building more comes after Nova Scotia Municipal Housing Minister John Lohr last week announced the government was extending its contract with the national online home-sharing platform Happipad, and called on residents who may have a spare bedroom to consider opening up their home to share.

At a time when Canada desperately needs to build more housing — and Premier Doug Ford is opening up part of the Greenbelt to be developed — the construction industry “remains downbeat” amid high interest rates, with 22 per cent of Canadian homebuilders cancelling projects entirely in the second quarter of 2023.

The Canadian Home Builders’ Association (CHBA) released its second-quarter report last week, which saw the construction of both single- and multi-family units remain low but increase slightly in the second quarter — an improvement from the lows recorded in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Crank immigration to 11 having made no provision for housing and infrastructure to handle the tidal wave.

That was so thoughtful of our political class. Their cronies are going to make out like bandits.