Mr. Speaker, I move that the 12th report of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, presented on Thursday, October 26, 2023, be concurred in.
First, I would like to say that I have made the excellent choice to share my time with the member for Port Moody—Coquitlam.
I am pleased to rise in the House to speak to a subject that is affecting millions of Quebeckers and Canadians, and that is the housing crisis. This crisis is raging across the country and having a truly serious impact on a fundamental right, namely the right to decent housing, the right to have a roof over one's head.
Several years ago, my team in Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie and I started an annual tradition of renting a theatre at Cinéma Beaubien, paying for the screening rights to a documentary, and inviting the public to come watch it for free, followed by an opportunity to interact with the artists who produced the film.
This year, about three weeks ago, we screened a very interesting documentary by Diane Bérard and Mathieu Vachon called Le dernier flip: Démarchandiser l'immobilier. It is about the importance of decommodifying real estate, or what is sometimes called the financialization of the housing stock. It was a really important moment. Ms. Bérard and Mr. Vachon were in the room, so we could ask them questions and have a conversation with them. Representatives from the housing committees of Rosemont and La Petite Patrie were also present.
There was a lot of interest, because this issue affects everyone. We sold out two screenings. Nearly 500 people in total came out and took the opportunity offered by my office to talk about the housing crisis and, more importantly, about solutions.
Over the past 20 or 30 years, there has been a significant shift towards speculation. Investment funds and trusts are increasingly involved in the purchase and construction of rental housing, and this speculation drives up prices. This is hurting a lot of people. A number of models and solutions are available. One of them is what Bernie Sanders did in Burlington in the early 1980s. People were happy to learn about this solution.
Bernie Sanders is well known as a socialist United States senator, but before that, he was also the mayor of Burlington. It was during his tenure that the city created what is known as a community land trust. A community land trust is an investment tool. The community land trust and the individual or family wanting to buy a home become co-owners of the investment, so it is a joint investment. The community land trust still owns the land itself, but the person buying the house becomes co-owner of the house. Later on, when the property is sold, the income generated by the sale is shared between the community land trust and the family that was able to benefit from a lower down payment thanks to the trust's support. In the end, the community land trust gets back part of the proceeds of the sale, which it can then use to make another purchase to help another individual, family or student.
This led to some very interesting discussions, because it is a different model that makes it easier to access home ownership. Today, the Champlain Housing Trust owns dozens of houses and apartments in Burlington. This has made it possible to keep the real estate market much more under control and to have prices that truly are much more affordable and accessible for the people living in that community.
There are also other models we have often talked about. For example, housing co-operatives provide access to affordable apartments and rent controls, because they belong to everyone and decisions are made collectively. It makes them affordable for people who are not fabulously rich, who cannot afford a condominium or a house on the “open” market. They have access to co-operative housing, which is pleasant to live in because it comes with a sense of community. Residents have to work together to find solutions and decide how they are going to repair or renovate their homes. These types of living arrangements are often very enjoyable. This is one of what we call the “off-market” solutions, because it is a different approach.
The documentary put forward another idea that we in the NDP champion, and that is to use public lands to create truly affordable housing. When I say “truly affordable”, I want to be very clear. For housing to be affordable, its cost must match what a person is able to pay. That does not mean 80% of the average local market price, which leads to ridiculous situations. Three years ago, a two-bedroom apartment in Montreal renting for $2,235 a month was considered affordable by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Housing that costs over $2,000 a month is not affordable. It is not true that hard-working people earning modest incomes can afford housing at that price.
Using public lands to build truly affordable housing should be a priority. This is a tool that works very well. It is starkly different from the Conservatives' idea, which is to sell public lands to private developers and investment firms that will build housing with the sole intention of turning a profit as fast as possible, regardless of people's ability to pay. That is the worst solution anyone could propose, but that is exactly what the Conservatives are doing, because they have tunnel vision that causes them to see just one model, the capitalist model, the model of maximizing investor profit. That is all they see.
There are so many alternatives, so many community-based solutions. There is the community land trust that I was just talking about that worked in Burlington. We could also create an acquisition fund. We could use public lands to build affordable housing. We could also have a public fund for buying homes, apartments, duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes. Then we could have democratic public control over rents and prices.
Do my colleagues know where that has been done? It was done in Vienna, Austria. For years, Vienna has been buying up virtually every house, apartment or building that comes on the market. Today, 60% of Vienna's real estate stock is owned by the city, so rent prices are kept under control. There is none of the speculation that we have been seeing here in Canada over the past 20 or 30 years as a result of the Liberals' and Conservatives' poor decisions.
The documentary Le dernier flip : Démarchandiser l'immobilier talks about a 20% target for off-market apartments and houses. We are not talking about 100%. There will still be a private sector, a private real estate market, as is the case right now, and that is fine. However, the percentage of off-market housing is too low right now. It is around 3%, whereas the target is 20%. If we reach the 20% target, we will be able to stabilize the market. That will have a positive impact on the private market, because it will cool the market down and curb speculation.
There is a research group in Montreal called the Institut de recherche et d'informations socioéconomiques, or IRIS, which published a study in June. The current housing crisis is creating many losers. Unfortunately, the study is called “The Big Winners of the Housing Crisis”, because some people have been lining their pockets for years. I am talking about trusts, funds and investment firms, which are benefiting from significant tax incentives and, unfortunately, are only out to make a profit.
Thirty years ago, almost none of our housing stock was owned by large trusts and investment funds. Today, 20% of Canada's entire housing stock is in the hands of people who are only interested in making money as quickly as possible. That is a big part of the financialization of the real estate market and the housing stock.
The IRIS study, much like the efforts in Quebec of FRAPRU, the Front d'action populaire en réaménagement urbain, illustrates just how harmful this is. It hurts renters, because there is not enough rental stock that is truly affordable. We do not have enough off-market housing. I think that is what we need to focus on for the next few years. We need to use public money wisely to rethink our investment model and remind everyone that housing is a right.
