Latest news with #affordablehousing
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Families flee Toronto, Ottawa as policies and rental conversions limit desirable housing
Young families are being driven from Ontario's biggest cities, with misguided policies and conversions to rental units limiting the supply of affordable homes with three bedrooms or more, according to the University of Ottawa's Missing Middle Initiative. Using census data on housing and population, the group found the number of children under five declined in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and in Ottawa between 2016 and 2021 but grew by over five per cent in some adjacent regions — especially where there was growth of owner-occupied homes with three or more bedrooms. 'The tax, regulatory, and economic conditions in many Ontario communities are making it increasingly difficult for middle-class families to afford a three-bedroom home, resulting in a decline in the population of young children in those communities,' the analysis noted. 'This needs to be fixed.' The authors argue that housing policy in Ontario fails to distinguish between studio apartments and larger units, which they term ''unit-is-a-unit' thinking,' and say more needs to be done to encourage building homes for families. The Missing Middle Initiative says their analysis confirms the 'drive to qualify' phenomenon, in which people seeking home ownership venture further and further from city centres in search of properties they can afford. A lack of supply is among the factors that have pushed home prices beyond the financial means of many Canadians; the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation recently said the pace of homebuilding would roughly need to double over the next 10 years to bring prices to affordable levels. The analysis finds that population growth in an area generally aligns with increases in available housing of any type, but 'the metric most highly correlated with the population growth of children under the age of five was the increase in the stock of owner-occupied housing with three or more bedrooms.' The data showed there was 'almost no relationship' between changes to the population of children under five and growth in the number of studio to two-bedroom homes in a community. The group found a negative correlation between growth in rental housing with three or more bedrooms and the growth of the population of children under five years old, as "'conversion to rental' of existing homes crowded out young families." Notably, the census data used count occupied homes rather than housing starts, and also distinguish between owned and rented units, which permitted the Missing Middle Initiative to track changes in how homes are occupied. The analysis points to growth of around 20 per cent of 3+ bedroom rentals in Ottawa and Hamilton between 2016 and 2021, 'almost (but not completely) entirely due to formerly owner-occupied homes being converted into rental properties.' The population of children under five years old decreased by 0.2 per cent in Ottawa over that time and grew by 2.8 per cent in Hamilton, both well under overall population growth rates in those cities. The Missing Middle Initiative analysis acknowledges that correlation is not causation — which is to say that similar patterns in sets of data do not necessarily mean one trend is causing the other. But they argue that there are some obvious 'potential causal' relationships. One is that 'communities with a high number of young families, who are reaching the age where they are starting to have children, tend to build a large number of family-friendly homes, as developers respond to this market demand.' They also suggest that the inverse is true, that is, 'communities that build a lot of family-friendly housing attract families with young children.' Data on movements of people from one part of the province to another lend support to that theory, they say: the migration of children from 0–4 years old shows 'a strong positive correlation' with the stock of 3+ bedroom owner-occupied homes. John MacFarlane is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow him on X @jmacf. Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
The Guardian
16 hours ago
- Business
- The Guardian
A broken housing market is driving inequality right across Europe – and fuelling the far right
Housing is as personal an issue as it gets. Homes are where we take refuge from the outside world, express ourselves, build relationships and families. To buy or rent a house is to project your aspirations and dreams on to bricks and mortar – can we see ourselves sitting outside in the sunshine on that patio? It can also be a deeply frustrating process – can we afford that house? For more and more of us, the answer is no. Experienced at such an individual level, it's easy to think that rising costs are a problem particular to your community, city or country. But unaffordable house prices and rents are a continent-wide issue. According to the European Parliament, from 2015 to 2023, in absolute terms, house prices in the EU rose by just under 50% on average. From 2010 to 2022, rents rose by 18%. As an editor, I wanted to know some of the stories behind these stats and, as a person who lives in a very expensive city (hello from London!), hear some solutions. I commissioned a range of housing experts to contribute to a series, The housing crisis in Europe, describing what the situation looks like in some of Europe's most expensive cities. Agustín Cocola-Gant writes about how changes to policy after the 2008 financial crisis encouraged wealthy foreigners to buy second homes or short-term rentals in Lisbon, pricing locals out of their city. Now some Portuguese families rent rooms, not flats. In a reversal of roles, it's the newcomers who have it worse in Amsterdam, according to Amber Howard. Older, long-term residents live in secure and affordable social housing while younger people and recent arrivals, often on lower incomes, are left to the costly and insecure private housing sector. While social housing stock has dropped over time, private stock has increased as politicians sought to encourage wealthier residents to move into the city. It's a similar story in Budapest, says Csaba Jelinek. Social housing was sold off after the end of the cold war, and private ownership was championed as a rejection of socialist values. What this has meant in practice is older Hungarians investing in housing and driving up prices and rents for younger generations. One city not facing an affordability crisis is Vienna. As Justin Kadi writes, since the 1920s the city has had a stable stock of social housing for tenants of all incomes. Like in Amsterdam, newcomers rent privately, but social housing has had a damping effect on rents. You don't need to be a housing expert to see the dynamics playing out in Europe's housing market. Over more than 40 years, housing policy has favoured those who invest in homes at the expense of those who live in them. This power imbalance is at its most stark in countries with big institutional investors – such as private equity, hedge, insurance and pension funds – as Tim White explores in his piece. When houses are not homes but assets, there is a transfer of wealth from those who have not to those who have. Across Europe – and much of the rest of the world – property has become a driving force of inequality. In turn, inequality is a driving force of resentment. Far-right politicians have tapped into this anger for their own political gain, as reported by the Guardian in a previous series of reports from the frontlines of Europe's housing crisis. As the European commissioner for jobs and social rights, Nicolas Schmit, commented: 'The housing problem divides our societies, and it may be a risk for our democracies.' Housing policies are set at a national level, but the European Union can set frameworks and support access to finance. In 2024, all housing ministers from member states signed a declaration calling for a 'new deal' on affordable and social housing. There are solutions, and there is political will, and in the meantime let's hope this series will go some way to helping those who face unaffordable housing across Europe realise they're not alone. Kirsty Major is a deputy Opinion editor for the Guardian
South China Morning Post
a day ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Indonesia's 3 million homes push gets US$2.5 billion boost from Qatar
A Qatari firm has pledged a US$2.5 billion investment to help Indonesia realise an ambitious affordable housing push, with plans to build 1 million homes over five years – a major contribution to President Prabowo Subianto 's broader pledge to construct 3 million new dwellings during his term. The initiative is expected to face complex challenges – from securing land and managing construction costs to integrating housing with urban infrastructure – but officials and experts say these could be addressed with the right policies and partnerships. On Thursday, Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, chairman of Qatar's Qilaa International Group, announced that its Indonesian subsidiary would fund the construction of 100,000 homes in two phases as part of the broader target. A groundbreaking date has not yet been confirmed. The initiative is part of the company's commitment to build 1 million homes in total over the next five years, according to Hashim Djojohadikusumo, head of a task force set up by the government to oversee the affordable housing scheme. Hashim Djojohadikusumo, head of a task force set up by the Indonesian government to oversee the affordable housing scheme. Photo: Jonathan Wong 'We finished all the drawings. We have all our partners to start this project. I hope we succeed very strongly in this project, and we see [the houses] on the ground,' Sheikh Abdulaziz told reporters in Jakarta on Thursday.
CTV News
a day ago
- Business
- CTV News
More than 1K new homes included in affordable housing project in Waterloo
Waterloo says a new affordable housing project will include more than 1,000 homes. CTV's Heather Senoran has the details. The City of Waterloo has finalized the transfer of city-owned land for an ambitious affordable housing project said the be the only one of its kind in the country. The city hosted an event Thursday at the 25-acre piece of land at 2025 University Avenue East, near RIM Park, to celebrate the next step in the project. Habitat for Humanity Waterloo Region partnered with the city for the project that will include more than 1,000 homes from studio apartments to four-bedroom units for families. 'There's going to be a bit of everything. The idea here is to create a whole community so it's not what's normally being built. It's not patchwork,' said Philip Mills CEO of Habitat for Humanity Waterloo Region. 'Everything you'd need - daycares, a gym, health care, food.' Affordable Housing at 2025 University Avenue East Waterloo The future site of an affordable housing project at at 2025 University Avenue East was pictured on June 26, 2025. (Heather Senoran/CTV News) Waterloo's mayor, Dorothy McCabe, said it is a once-in-a-generation transformational project. 'About 30 per cent will be for deeply affordable [units]. Thirty per cent will be for affordable. And the rest will be attainable,' she said. It's expected to cost about half a billion dollars with $22 million in funding coming from the federal government's Housing Accelerator Fund. 'A huge portion of that is going into the work that's being done on this site and to provide some compensation to the city for the land itself,' McCabe said. It will be a mix of rented and owned homes. The price to rent or to own will depend on the size of the unit and other factors. The team said they will be among the most affordable homes on the market. The team hopes the project will have national impact. 'We're really hoping that other communities will take a look at this and see how this could be replicated across the country,' said McCabe. Shovels are expected to be in the ground by 2026. The goal is for it to be move-in ready sometime in 2027.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Failed New Zealand scheme is cautionary tale for Carney's homebuilding agency: report
OTTAWA — Researchers with the Montreal Economic Institute say Canada's new federal homebuilding agency is likely to overpromise and underdeliver, drawing a cautionary tale from down under. The free-market think tank argues in a new study that New Zealand's now-defunct homebuilding scheme KiwiBuild, a signature policy of Jacinda Ardern's Labour government, shows why government bureaucrats shouldn't try to play real estate developer. 'New Zealand's experience highlights the limits of government intervention in the real estate market, especially in terms of resource allocation,' write co-authors Gabriel Giguère, Yassine Benabid and Renaud Brossard. Brossard told the National Post he was struck by the similarities between KiwiBuild and the Liberal government's Build Canada Homes. 'If you look at government programs that have been done throughout the world, this is probably the closest thing to what (Prime Minister) Mark Carney's pitching,' said Brossard. KiwiBuild launched in 2018 with the lofty goal of building 100,000 affordable housing units in a decade. It would never come anywhere near meeting this target, completing just 2,389 units by the end of its last full year of activity in 2024. The program was slammed by both politicians and pundits as a 'complete disaster', contributing to Ardern's fall from global progressive darling to her abrupt resignation in early 2023. By one estimate, KiwiBuild would have taken 436 years to hit the original target of 100,000 homes. Brossard said that one critical mistake that KiwiBuild administrators made was relying too heavily on prefabricated homes. 'In some of the areas where they were hoping to build homes for (KiwiBuild), they found that shipping in a prefab home was actually more expensive than just building one in situ,' said Brossard. Carney has promised billions in subsidies to prefabricated and modular home builders, as part of his plan to double the rate of housing construction and build 500,000 new homes a year within a decade. Brossard and his co-authors report that KiwiBuild's prefab homes were often inferior to other housing options available to low and moderate-income families. Some banks were even hesitant to approve mortgages for the prefab homes, given the 'flight risk' involved where delinquents could theoretically load the units onto a truck bed and skip town. Brossard says that the big lesson from KiwiBuild is that civil servants should leave the nuts and bolts of real estate development to the professionals. 'This is what tends to happen with top-down government programs that push one-size-fits-all solutions,' said Brossard. The study recommends that Carney scrap Build Canada Homes and instead focus on creating a friendlier regulatory environment for private real estate developers. Brossard also said that policymakers can stimulate homebuilders by harmonizing professional qualifications for workers in the building trades across provinces and territories. The office of federal Housing Minister Gregor Robertson didn't respond when asked about KiwiBuild by the National Post. National Post Gary Berman: Common-sense solutions to address the housing shortage Developer makes his pitch: Renting our way out of the Canadian housing crisis Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our politics newsletter, First Reading, here.
