Skip the protest and let Pride be a Riot again.
undercrust
joined 2 years ago
Again, which level of government controls zoning and housing permits? What about utilities, roads, firefighters, water rights, etc?
Right, provinces. So without provinces doing enough, the CMHC cannot have any direct effect on the national housing shortages.
See also: Conservative policies on the homeless, the living poor, and really anyone who isn't a white upper class Christian.
Inflation isn't something that anyone really gets to "do anything" about. The most successful applied economic model to explain inflation boils down to "when people start talking en masse about expecting inflation, companies take that as license to raise prices." Every other economic model fails to reliably explain, predict, or resolve inflation, including the most popular - changes in interest rates.
The article lays most of it out, but the Federal government really can't do much about housing, since interest rates are set by an independent central bank, and housing development and zoning is a provincial issue. Could you imagine how much Ontario or Alberta would start pissing and moaning if the Feds tried to assert any authority there?
Apart from something seriously dramatic like changing taxation on mortgage interest (make it deductible on primary residences only, and not additional properties), or creating a heavy wealth tax on additional properties - both of which would be political suicide for any Federal party - the issue isn't something that can be addressed by the Feds. For the record, I think both of those ideas would be enormously beneficial to Canadians who are looking to own homes, as well as address the cost of housing, but the only party that has the will to make real changes like that are the Federal NDP.
And before anyone jumps on "but what about immigration", the high immigration rates are what helps bring unemployment up, which is desirable during a period where you're trying to squash inflation, and also helps preserve the tax base, since landed Canadians are having less children. Not to mention filling certain skilled labour categories.
So it's a hell of a Gordian knot, but it certainly has very little to do with the Feds.
Good, fuck that doctor / grifter. I hope she gets a real earful from her clients for the rest of time. GTFO here with that shit.
Absolutely right on the provincial / municipal differences for a number of those points I raised.
Also correct that most of the shortages are due to NIMBYism and a lot of refusal / blockages on city central neighbourhoods being densified in the name of "property values". They really need to stop asking the public and start telling instead. Maybe we could get something done that way.