Canada's Housing Crisis, and Ottawa's Response

What would it look like if we completely eliminated the private sector from our rental housing industry and replaced them solely with social housing, like the prefabricated panel buildings  (also known as panelkis) of Bulgaria’s Communist era? On this week’s episode of the Sync or  Swim Podcast, we focus on the Canadian rental housing industry. Our guest today is Peter  Shawn Taylor, the Senior Features Editor at the C2C Journal. He’s here today to discuss his most recent article, titled, ‘Marxism Won’t Solve Canada’s Rental Housing Crisis — Despite  What Ottawa Thinks,’ a piece that grabbed the attention of many players in the Canadian rental housing industry. We dive into an engaging discussion with Peter and gain his insights into the current rental housing crisis being faced in Canada. He talks us through the newly formed  Canadian Federal Housing Advocate role, what the financialization of housing means, and different tensions surrounding the root cause and the solution to the housing crisis. If you’re interested in learning more about what’s happening in the rental housing industry and how the crisis is being navigated, this episode is for you. You can also follow the link to read Peter’s article in the C2C Journal. Don’t miss out, tune in now! 

Key Points From This Episode:  

• Who is Peter Shawn Taylor and what led him to write this compelling article. 
• What the Canadian Federal Housing Advocate, Marie-Josée Houle, and her office have been  tasked with. 
• Financialization of Housing; what this means, according to Peter. 
• Peter’s belief on the root cause of the rental housing crisis in Canada. 
• His “solution” to the housing crisis. 
• How the recommendations could essentially eliminate the private sector from participating in the rental housing market. 
• We discuss Andrey Pavlov and why social housing isn’t the solution for Canada. 
• Why REITs and other private investors offer better housing options versus Mom and Pop run operations.  
• What role the government should play in addressing the current rental housing crisis. 
• A look at other countries and the solutions they’ve implemented; could they work for  Canada? 
• Where listeners can keep up-to-date on what’s happening in Ottawa. 

 

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:  

• Peter Taylor on LinkedIn 
• C2C Journal 
• Peter’s Article 
• The Financialization of Housing in Canada: Project Summary Report 
• The Uneven Racialized Impacts of Financialization 
• National Housing Council 
• Rentsync 
• Sync or Swim Podcast 
  
  
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