To create affordable housing, let’s banish the hoary myths of home ownership

For years, Canadians have watched our cities climb the wrong kinds of global lists – the ones ranking the most expensive cities in the world to live in. Our fears have only been fuelled by our daily experiences: people bounced from rental to rental because of landlords’ or investors’ bottom-line desires. We’ve worried that even rental housing has grown out of the realm of affordable housing.

None of that is particularly new. But last week, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives provided evidence backing up those fears: in most major cities in Canada, there are no neighbourhoods where a minimum-wage worker could comfortably afford an average-priced one-bedroom apartment.

Read more