“The nightmare worsens.”That’s the word from Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, who says the ‘housing deficit’ — the ratio of new people to houses — hit an all time high in the first quarter of the year.According to data from the National Bank of Canada, the ratio of working-age population was about five times the number of available housing starts in the three months ended March 31, the highest in more than 25 years.Despite the best efforts of the Liberal government to address a growing housing crisis, a new article in Policy Options magazine published on Tuesday, said the problem is compounded not only by a lack of housing supply, but a lack of skilled labour..That means Canada couldn’t build the 5.8 million housing units the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) says is needed to restore housing affordability by 2030 — 3.5 million more than the current pace — even if it wanted to. That’s despite assertions by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Housing Minister Sean Fraser that the government is capable of doing just that.“The inconvenient truth is that we are not going to hit those targets — we will likely not get anywhere close to those targets,” Canada Board of Real Estate Group chairman Paul Morassutti said earlier this month. “Even if we had approvals across the country to build thousands of units, we cannot physically build them, because we don’t have enough trades.”In Ontario alone, there is a forecast deficit of more than 23,000 construction workers by 2027. That in turn — in combination with those factors — is contributing to at least 235,000 homeless people across the country.“The scale of the problem, which has been many years in the making, is massive,” Morassutti added. “Income inequality and housing affordability are very pernicious issues. Left unaddressed, the damage to our social and economic fabric will only worsen.”.Meanwhile, an RBC study said more than half — one million — of 1.9 million new households by 2030 will not be able to buy a home if affordability remains close to where it is today. Worse, more than 40% of the new households that can’t buy a home will also not earn enough to afford rent at the market rates, it added.“The current affordability crisis has been driven by a massive undersupply of housing in the face of booming demand,” said Robert Hogue, assistant chief economist, RBC Economics.“Canada needs to significantly grow its housing stock, especially rental and affordable housing, and it needs to do so quickly. Addressing this challenge will require greater collaboration between governments, industry and other stakeholders.”
“The nightmare worsens.”That’s the word from Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, who says the ‘housing deficit’ — the ratio of new people to houses — hit an all time high in the first quarter of the year.According to data from the National Bank of Canada, the ratio of working-age population was about five times the number of available housing starts in the three months ended March 31, the highest in more than 25 years.Despite the best efforts of the Liberal government to address a growing housing crisis, a new article in Policy Options magazine published on Tuesday, said the problem is compounded not only by a lack of housing supply, but a lack of skilled labour..That means Canada couldn’t build the 5.8 million housing units the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) says is needed to restore housing affordability by 2030 — 3.5 million more than the current pace — even if it wanted to. That’s despite assertions by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Housing Minister Sean Fraser that the government is capable of doing just that.“The inconvenient truth is that we are not going to hit those targets — we will likely not get anywhere close to those targets,” Canada Board of Real Estate Group chairman Paul Morassutti said earlier this month. “Even if we had approvals across the country to build thousands of units, we cannot physically build them, because we don’t have enough trades.”In Ontario alone, there is a forecast deficit of more than 23,000 construction workers by 2027. That in turn — in combination with those factors — is contributing to at least 235,000 homeless people across the country.“The scale of the problem, which has been many years in the making, is massive,” Morassutti added. “Income inequality and housing affordability are very pernicious issues. Left unaddressed, the damage to our social and economic fabric will only worsen.”.Meanwhile, an RBC study said more than half — one million — of 1.9 million new households by 2030 will not be able to buy a home if affordability remains close to where it is today. Worse, more than 40% of the new households that can’t buy a home will also not earn enough to afford rent at the market rates, it added.“The current affordability crisis has been driven by a massive undersupply of housing in the face of booming demand,” said Robert Hogue, assistant chief economist, RBC Economics.“Canada needs to significantly grow its housing stock, especially rental and affordable housing, and it needs to do so quickly. Addressing this challenge will require greater collaboration between governments, industry and other stakeholders.”
