Canada’s next great economic boom can be unleashed by the power of housing, immigration, and labour

What about protecting existing renters? We believe there are smart policies that will allow the government to protect the long-term affordability for the least-advantaged renters at a fraction of the cost of new affordable housing. Championed by the NDP and supported by our industry, creating an Affordable Acquisition Fund would enable the transfer of existing market- based affordable rental apartments from the for-profit sector to nonprofits, co- operative and community land trusts (NPOs for short), making them permanently affordable.

These NPOs can do this with relatively little government support. In practice, governments could deliver large-scale permanent housing affordability for between one-third to one-half the cost of building new affordable homes. And another advantage would be that REITs, pension funds, and other large scale for-profit housing providers would reinvest the revenue from these transfers back into the economy, building new housing supply. Just last week, British Columbia Premier David Eby announced a $500-million acquisition program for that province; the federal government can take this approach and scale it nationally.

With a targeted immigration plan and policies that maximize the potential of housing providers such as REITs and Canadian investors, we can offer more people from around the world a chance at a better life while simultaneously providing a powerful, long-term strategy to address the country’s housing challenges—all while growing the economy for everyone’s benefit.