With a federal election looming in Canada, in addition to recent issues such as tariffs and relations with the U.S., another major issue is troubling Canadians' minds: housing affordability. Voters can't help but wonder if any political party has plans to address this issue that has become a generational problem.

Willow Yamauchi said that 25 years ago, she and her husband bought their family home in Vancouver for CAD 275,000, which was considered a low price at the time. As an "ordinary person," she would be equivalent to about CAD 435,000 today.

Now, the same property is worth millions of dollars.

Photo by BBC Eloise Alanna

In Canadian cities on the west coast, Ms. Yamauchi's story is as common as overcast weather. In 2000, the average price of a detached house in Vancouver was about CAD 350,000. Now, that price has exceeded CAD 2 million.

This 52-year-old writer told the BBC, "My husband and I were very lucky to have been able to buy a house back then. As part of Generation X, the timing was on our side." She said that it's different for young people now; without parental sponsorship, they are completely squeezed out of the cities where they grew up and simply cannot afford to buy homes.

Vancouver, the cultural and economic center of Canada with a population of less than one million, is often seen as the epicenter of Canada's housing crisis. A report last year by Chapman University in California listed Vancouver as one of the most unaffordable cities in the world.

Photo of Yamauchi by BBC Eloise Alanna

However, Vancouver is not the only city in Canada where home prices are out of reach for many people. Canada is one of the developed countries with the highest ratio of house prices to income nationwide.

National data shows that in 2021, the post-tax average household income in Canada was approximately CAD 88,000. The same year, the average home price reached CAD 713,500, more than eight times higher. In major cities like Toronto and Vancouver, this gap is even larger.

For many Canadians, housing is one of the top issues in the federal election, and concerns about housing affordability have driven the development of the Conservative Party, which is widely regarded as the most capable party to address this crisis.

However, after the trade war with the U.S. emerged, the ruling Liberal Party became the highest-polling party in the polls.

Even with Trump's factor, this topic occupied a significant position in both debates this week. During the French debate, host and journalist Patrice Roy (Patrice Roy) presented the figures showing the increase in housing prices in Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver over the past decade.

Mr. Roy said to the federal leaders, "I believe this will not come as a surprise," then he asked them how they plan to address the crisis.

Opinion polls show that young people are particularly concerned about the housing crisis and its impact on their future.

In conversations with students at the University of British Columbia (UBC) Vancouver campus, we quickly found that this issue is the concern of many people.

Many said that to save money, they either chose to live at home during their studies or paid between CAD 1,100 and CAD 1,500 for single rooms near campus, often sharing with five or six other people.

Emily Chu

Emily Chu, a 24-year-old student in her final semester at UBC, said that due to difficulties in affording tuition and rent, she once postponed her studies for two years to work.

Now, she shares an apartment with her brother, who works full-time and pays most of the rent. Ms. Chu considers herself one of the lucky ones.

Regarding the possibility of owning her own home in the future, she said that for most of her peers, "it's simply impossible." "Everyone thinks we won't be able to own a home."

Young professionals with high-paying jobs like Margareta Dovgal are also being squeezed out of the real estate market. This 28-year-old director of the Vancouver non-profit organization Resource Works told the BBC that she once considered moving to nearby Alberta because of its lower cost of living, although she has always been a "loyal Vancouverite" all her life.

However, Calgary, the largest city in Alberta, saw a 15% increase in home prices in 2024 compared to the previous year, as the city's population growth rate reached its highest level since 2001.

The National Housing Agency, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), estimates that over 3.8 million new homes need to be built over the next six years to address the housing shortage.

However, new housing construction falls far short of this target, raising doubts about whether Canada can achieve this goal. Experts say the obstacles to faster housing construction include high and scarce land costs in urban areas, where most Canadians typically live and work.

In addition, there are regional obstacles such as zoning laws that hinder the construction of more economical and higher-density housing, including apartment buildings or multi-story residences, in some communities.

Daniel Oleksiuk, co-founder of the advocacy group Abundant Housing Vancouver, said that his city is an example where more than half of the land has traditionally been zoned for single-family homes.

"We've almost preserved all the land," Mr. Oleksiuk told the BBC. "There are neighborhoods where homes are only worth three to five million dollars."

During the campaign, each major federal political party proposed plans to address the crisis, with the goal of building as much housing as possible as quickly as possible.

The Liberals led by Mark Carney stated that their goal is to build 500,000 new homes annually with the help of a new government agency called "Building Canada Homes." This agency will oversee and fund the construction of affordable housing in Canada—a plan similar to those implemented after World War II to accommodate veterans.

Critics question whether Carney's target is feasible, as it requires Canada to more than double its current construction rate.

In the meantime, the Conservatives led by Pierre Poilievre vowed to link federal funding to housing starts, rewarding cities that build more homes and punishing those that hinder construction—a carrot-and-stick approach.

Poilievre also promised to eliminate the federal tax on new homes to reduce the cost for potential buyers. However, critics argue that this policy may have minimal effect, as most homes purchased in Canada are resales rather than new constructions.

Voters interviewed by the BBC expressed support for any plans to strengthen housing construction in Canada.

Ms. Dovgal noted that while most housing issues are managed by provinces and municipalities, the federal government has the ability to "persuasively lead" and implement measures to make housing construction cheaper and easier across the country.

But others closely following this issue reminded that the proposed measures may not be sufficient.

Poll results source: CBC poll tracker updated on April 17

Paul Kershaw, a professor of public policy at the University of British Columbia and founder of the think tank Generation Squeeze, believes that politicians have failed to address the elephant in the room: the wealth created by older homeowners in the housing crisis.

Mr. Kershaw pointed out, "Political deals require Canadian youth to bear higher rents and mortgages to protect those higher home values."

He said, "No political party truly confronts this intergenerational tension," adding that politicians may privately believe that delaying housing costs, thus delaying the assets of elderly Canadians, carries political risks.

Professor Kershaw described this as a "cultural issue" and suggested that parties should also focus on reducing the costs for young people to alleviate the burden on this generation.

He believes that addressing the housing crisis is just as essential as maintaining sovereignty and prosperity in the face of threats from Trump's tariffs.

He said, "Our dysfunctional housing market undermines the well-being of the nation."

For many, the possibility of owning a home remains slim before a solution is found.

Margareta Dovgal said skeptically that apart from moving elsewhere, "you have to win the lottery or marry a millionaire. These are options."

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7495528454377521664/

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