Minister, unfortunately, I haven’t heard anything from you in the past two hours that will enable the construction of affordable housing and social housing.
The financialization of housing is one of the major problems of the current housing crisis that we haven’t addressed. Recently, the committee conducted a study on the subject. Even the Federal Housing Advocate, who is supposed to be working with you, conducted a study on the subject. It defines the financialization of housing as the “fact that housing is increasingly treated as a commodity—a vehicle for wealth and investment—rather than as a fundamental right and social good for individuals and communities.”
It’s estimated that, when the federal government withdrew from the housing sector in 1993, close to 0% of the market was owned by large real estate investment trusts or public funds investing in housing. Today, it’s estimated that between 20% and 30% of the housing stock is owned by these large real estate empires, which couldn’t care less about the right to housing; all they want to do is make money.
What’s your position on this? Do you intend to legislate to prevent the financialization of housing from increasing in Canada?