Why we have a housing crisis
--
Spoiler alert: it’s the profit motive.
My home town has the dubious distinction of being one of the most expensive cities in the world. Today’s daily newspaper provides a stunning illustration of the problem and its source.
It’s a big enough issue that it warranted a large headline on the cover, “HOUSING NEEDED NOW”.
A two page spread in the same section of the paper provides a detailed piece of high quality investigative journalism that carefully documents the nature of the problem.
As the subhead says, the numbers ARE shocking: experts estimate that twelve Canadian cities will need a total of more than 250,000 new homes over the next five to ten years to meet demand.
But if you want to better understand why, keep reading. Turns out, it’s not just immigration and population growth.
Again, in the same section, we find a full page four-colour advertisement from the developers of (another) luxury condo high-rise building touting “private jet services” amongst its amenities.
And in the same Saturday paper, there’s an advertorial supplement that focuses on real estate. It contains a Sold/Bought section that features news of the sale of a suite in that same luxury building.
A two bedroom, two bathroom apartment on the 27th floor, total 1,700 square feet, sold for C$5,398,800.
Affordable housing?
Connect the dots.
