YVES ENGLER'S HOUSING POLICY FOR THE NDP
Canadians are living through a housing crisis. Prices have spiraled out of reach for millions and housing affordability is at the heart of the disenfranchisement many feel.
Alongside millions who pay rents beyond their means, growing numbers live in abject misery on the streets. Every night in Canada, 60,000 people sleep on the streets and nearly a quarter million experience homelessness at some point each year. In most places the number of unhoused has doubled in recent years.
When I visited Oslo, Zurich, Gothenburg and Copenhagen as part of a speaking engagement in May there were basically no unhoused people. The contrast with Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Victoria is remarkable.
Beyond the toll on each individual, the social costs are high. It’s generally more expensive for society to pay for an unhoused individual – far higher hospital, police and other costs – than to offer them supportive services. Studies show that investing in Housing First programs for individuals with mental illness is substantially more cost-effective than depriving them of lodging.
In my NDP leadership campaign platform we call for a “Public Housing Revolution”. The first point is to “Build 100,000 units of social and co-op housing each year, with an initial focus on providing for vulnerable populations first, such as homeless, refugees, domestic abuse survivors, persons with disabilities and students.” While far beyond what is currently being built, 100,000 units is a minimum target in our bid to “guarantee housing as a human right, not a speculative asset.”
The aim is to ensure that housing serves as a public good instead of as a hub of profit maximization. Our imperative is to build a de-commodified, growing, and permanent non-market housing sector that sets the floor for affordability and quality. The intention is for homes to be run by the people who live in and maintain them.
As a step towards this goal, our housing strategy targets Real Estate Investment Trust (REITs) which have created an artificial housing crisis that takes up an ever-greater share of the rental market. They control over 200,000 units across the country, around 20-30% of all ʻpurpose-builtʼ (constructed to be rented) units of rental housing in the country. Studies demonstrate that REITs raise rents/fees more aggressively than other ownership structures and evict tenants at much higher rates, disproportionately targeting the racialized. REITs have a fiduciary responsibility to maximize returns and benefit from tax incentives that effectively exempt them from paying corporate taxes if profits are distributed to investors.
My platform calls to “Convert Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) Properties into Housing Cooperatives: Declare a national emergency to remove corporate landlords from the rental market and convert REIT properties into housing cooperatives. Guarantee existing tenants a right of first refusal on co-operative membership for their residence.”
Co-operative housing communities offer greater protection against any future government privatization of social housing.
As part of further protecting renters from skyrocketing costs, the platform also calls to “Establish Affordable Housing Tribunals: In order to reduce rent increases and protect tenants, housing tribunals will be established. Rent will be adjusted to income tested thresholds being no greater than a third of income for tenants. Ban no-cause evictions. Implement a national rent freeze. Guarantee free legal counsel for tenants.”
For those who have purchased a home at a speculative rate, we are calling for “Mandatory Refinancing Programs: This program will be applied to write down mortgage debt for homeowners who register and apply for relief of housing financial distress.”
Another part of the platform is to prioritize ecologically minded, health promoting, housing in “complete communities, where residents can easily access work, education, healthcare, recreation, and other amenities via walking/rolling, cycling, and public transit, with automobiles a choice rather than a dependency.”
Under Canadian and international law, access to adequate housing is a human right. Despite this, our basic need for shelter has turned into a vehicle for financial extraction, creating a severe housing crisis that renders housing unaffordable and in short supply.
If housing is a right, why have successive governments instituted policies and legislation that incentivize corporate landlords to dominate the housing market? It is time the federal government puts action behind its words and understands the severity of this crisis and moves to make housing affordable.
