Its Time for a New Housing Deal for Canadians

Young Canadians’ dreams of owning their own home/apartment/farm has evaporated, as Federal and Provincial governments target billions for rental units, thus sentencing generations to serfdom.

That’s the problem.

Here is my “elevator pitch” solution:

1. Establish a national, not-for-profit organization (NNFPO) led by industry leaders in the fields of real estate, development, construction, engineering, and architecture.
2. The mandate of the NNFPO is to design and foster the implementation and construction of housing which will:
   • Last for generations
   • Be energy efficient
   • Be flexible with respect to building codes for different climactic areas of Canada.
   • Have a selection of designs that are engineered and pre-approved for construction.
3. The Federal and Provincial governments will provide mortgage funding on the following basis:
   • 40 year amortized mortgages
   • Fixed Interest rate of 1%
   • Down payment of 5%
   • Mortgage payments to be minimum 30% of combined family income, adjusted on an annual basis.
   • No prepayment penalties
4. Proposed projects approved under the program will require no zoning, development permits or building permits from local governments. Any site shown to be service capable in an area of “housing need” meets the criteria. If a local government is concerned about a location they will be given 30 days to offer a suitable alternative location within their jurisdiction.
5. All housing under the program will be price covenanted to cap resale values by linking resales to the CPI in the geographic area of the individual projects using the Whistler Housing Authority model.
6. To qualify for purchasing housing through this program Canadians must be employed.
7. The NNFPO will contract with manufacturers to secure lowest price on construction materials for approved projects.

By creating workforce, ownership housing for working Canadians, rental units currently occupied by workers will be freed up for other Canadians who are not working.

Workers get to build equity in their homes, as has been the Canadian “norm” until recently.

The program incentivizes working to get ahead.

If you have any ideas to add, please feel free to comment.

Eric Booth, February 20, 2023