What are the solutions for the housing crisis?
What caused it?
Why So Expensive?
Solutions?
A roadmap for fixing the affordable housing crisis
We have an affordable housing crisis in Canada – particularly in Ontario and B.C. — that’s putting people on the streets and/or forcing them to live in inadequate or even dangerous housing.
Unfortunately, because this crisis is caused by several complex, interrelated factors, it can’t be solved with a single, magic bullet.
We need to attack it on four fronts using an approach that can be summed up with the acronym “CARS,” standing for Construction; Acquisition; Retention; Supports.
Construction:
We need to build as much affordable housing as we can, and fast. To do that, we must overcome barriers, including a lack of organizational capacity, a complex and slow municipal approval process, and the availability of land.
Solutions to the housing crisis
Acquisition:
As a result of financialization and renoviction, the last several years have seen an acceleration in the loss of affordable market rental housing. Private capital firms, including Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), seek buildings where rents are below market. As tenants leave (either forcibly or by attrition), buildings are upgraded to justify higher rents. This kind of activity is made possible by rent de-controls, where rent is only regulated so long as the same tenant stays in a unit. Once a tenant leaves, the landlord can seek whatever rent the market will bear.
Community groups need to take advantage of the federal government’s Rapid Housing Initiative which helps the non-market sector quickly acquire funding for purchasing buildings from the private sector. Another stream of acquisition could focus on affordable home ownership.
Retention:
It is important that tenants who are in affordable units under rent controls have the ability to stay. Once they leave, the unit may be lost as affordable housing. Above-guideline rent increases, eviction and low income are the main reasons tenants lose their affordable units. There are several programs supporting tenants with these issues, but they should also be increased.
Supports:
Many people who need affordable housing also need more human service supports. A tactical roadmap should address the need for supportive housing for the following priority groups:
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- People with severe mental illness, addictions and other people who are high acuity and at-risk for homelessness, or who are homeless. Demonstration projects have showed that supportive housing for high-needs clients costs less than the costs avoided in other sectors, notably policing and criminal justice, acute care services, emergency response and social services.
- Older adults, particularly low-income older adults. A Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI) study showed that 1 in 9 people going into LTC didn’t require that level of care (clinically). LTC is being used as affordable housing for people who could otherwise live in the community with supports.
- People with developmental disabilities suffer from a severe shortage of supportive housing.
- Women, LGBTQ+ have a significant need for customized supportive housing.
Using CARS, we can make significant gains toward resolving the housing crisis and in a way that prioritizes those most in need.
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- Jim Dunn and Steve Pomeroy’s CARS model
- Review and Options to Strengthen the National Housing Strategy https://chec-ccrl.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Review-and-recommended-strengthening-of-the-NHS-JULY-2021.pdf
- Fixing Up Housing Policy Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6cgRKQ6Km5o6gtYzs8rCpz?si=bc338e2612a845d3