Affordable housing is the hot topic at week-long summit in Vancouver

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VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Canada lags behind other western countries when it comes to solving the ongoing issue of affordable housing, but a week-long conference on the subject in Vancouver this week hopes to clarify the reasons why.

Global Discussions on Housing Affordability is the city’s first international housing conference.

Dr. David Hulchanski, with the University of Toronto’s Centre for Urban and Community Studies, explains one of the key reasons we’re so behind is outdated thinking. “The affordable housing system in Canada was developed after World War II. And it worked fairly well, as long as we had a majority middle income society,” says Hulchanski, one of the keynote speakers at the conference.

“But with growing inequality since the 1990s, that’s no longer the case. We have way more people at the low income poll if you will, of the income distribution and more at the top, with a much smaller middle.”

And with that no longer the case, Hulchanski says the pressure has grown. “On top of that of course, we have globalization, housing is simply an asset to store wealth as I think most people understand.”

He adds European countries are doing a better job at dedicating more money and space to affordable housing. “Canada’s social housing sector is very small, about five per cent of the national housing stock. In Europe it ranges from 15 per cent in France, and 20 per cent in England — up to 32 per cent. A third of all Dutch households live in non-profit, non-market housing so that’s permanently affordable housing.”

While in Canada, we continue to deal with cuts to affordable housing at both the provincial and federal level. Hulchanski says that begins to explain why we can’t make real progress.

Late last week, the National Bank of Canada predicted a major correction for Vancouver’s hyper-inflated housing prices sometime over the next year. In its report, the bank says the cost of a detached home will drop by 20 per cent, with more modest nine per cent and five per cent price declines for attached homes and condos respectively.

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