Decades of Liberal and Conservative failure on housing policy have left workers with a housing crisis. Workers can’t find affordable housing near their work, and communities don’t have affordable housing for the workers they need.
In the midst of a tariff war with the US, we need a workers’ plan for housing that takes greed out of the system, builds social housing at an unprecedented pace and protects tenants’ rights.
Why it matters
In 1980, the average home cost 2.5 times the average household income. Today, it’s 8.8 times the average income.[i] One in five renter households can’t find housing that is affordable, suitable or adequate[ii] and over one in five is spending over 30% of their income on housing.[iii]
Workers from equity-deserving groups, including Indigenous, Black and racialized workers, migrant workers and workers with disabilities, are particularly at risk of housing insecurity.
Housing is a human right that is not being upheld in Canada.
How we got here
Corporations have been buying up rental housing across the country. Real estate investment trusts, pension funds and other corporations have been systematically raising rents and putting renters’ housing rights at risk. These large corporations make up nine of the ten largest landlords in Canada.[iv]
At the same time, we’re losing more affordable housing than we’re building. In1994, 6% of Canada’s housing stock was social housing.[v] Today only 4% is public, non-profit, and co-operative housing.[vi] This is significantly lower than the 7% OECD average and the 16% social housing in the UK and 14% in France.[vii]
We can do better.
How current policy is falling short
The Liberal government’s National Housing Strategy has directed public money to for-profit housing developers. These investments have not created housing for the people who need it most.
Conservative and Liberal governments have let the housing crisis build for over three decades, freezing federal investment in housing and letting investors destroy affordable homes by evicting tenants and raising rents.
Their current platforms are no different. Neither party has promised to build publicly-owned, non-profit or co-op homes that will stay affordable long-term or outlined a plan to tackle corporate landlords. Without those promises, how will tenants be protected from skyrocketing rents and renovictions?
The NDP has been on the side of workers, fighting to make affordable housing a priority for the federal government for over 20 years. Only the NDP has proposed real action and offered solutions to make housing affordable for all.
A workers’ plan for housing
Housing justice advocates and CUPE are calling for:
- Public money and lands to be used for the public interest, not private profit.
- Significant increases to social housing, with rent geared to income.
- Regulations and restrictions on large scale investors in residential real estate, including workers’ pension funds and real estate investment trusts.
- Tie funding to enforceable minimum standards for renters including rent control, vacancy control and protection against unfair evictions.
- Indigenous peoples’ active involvement in developing, determining and administering housing programmes affecting them with adequate federal funding.
[i] Flynn and Whitzman, “Housing Is a Direct Federal Responsibility, Contrary to What Trudeau Said. Here’s How His Government Can Do Better.”
[ii] Government of Canada, “Core Housing Need in Canada.”
[iii] Government of Canada, “The Daily — Housing Affordability in Canada, 2022.”
[iv] August, “The Financialization of Multi-Family Rental Housing in Canada: A Report for the Office of the Federal Housing Advocate.”
[v] Pomeroy and Falvo, “Housing Policy in Canada under the Harper Regime.”
[vi] “Affordable Housing Database - OECD.”
[vii] “Affordable Housing Database - OECD.”
