“This has become probably the most important both economic and political problem facing the country right now,” said Tyler Meredith, a former head of economic strategy and planning for Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland.
“And especially given the significant emphasis the government has put on immigration and the relationship between immigration and the housing market, there is a need to do more.”
The problem is that our government’s neoliberal policies will never develop social housing on its own.
The government doesn’t think that’s the right thing to do because it’s the job of the corporations, but that’s a mistake.
Housing is a provincial responsibility.
The federal government can tax the fuck out of corporations and private individuals to take the profit motive out of speculating on real estate.
An immediate 1% tax on the total value of any non-primary-residence property that goes up at 2x the rate of inflation every year would see a steady stream of corporations and private landlords liquidating their inventory of homes as each individual property crossed into non-profitability – without causing a dramatic shock to the market. Housing cost increases have been going up for 20 years, fixing it in 5 to 10 should be seen as a huge win.