Justin Ling rightly points out that Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new housing minister, Gregor Robertson, is asking for the impossible in saying that housing will become “more affordable” without prices decreasing. The scary part is that the minister appears to have dug in his heels, having said that new homes can be built without the prices of existing homes going down. Ling is too charitable when he says that the minister might be too “spooked” to state the reality of things aloud. We should take the minister at his word. It’s clear that Robertson has not understood page one of an economics textbook. I trust Carney here, given that he contradicted his own minister on this point afterwards: when supply is added, all home prices — not just the prices of new homes — will decrease. But we need to have faith in more than the prime minister’s credibility as an economist. We need to have faith in his judgment as a leader, too. Robertson needs to go.
Ewan Dunbar, Toronto
Happily, the average price of all housing does not have to fall in order for the economy to deliver an increased supply of affordable housing. The price of unaffordable housing — that is, housing that ordinary people cannot afford — can continue to rise while the government and the construction industry increase the supply of basic homes that cost less than the fancier ones now on offer.
Right now, the construction industry is bent on making homes that lower-income people cannot afford. Robertson thinks that this can be fixed by finding ways to make basic homes less costly to build. He and Carney believe this can be done by building more prefabricated homes, assembling them on government land currently lying fallow. They have not said that this will be easy, only that it should be possible if Canadians (journalists included) are willing to open their minds to the challenge.
Patrick Cowan, Toronto
I don’t have expertise on solving housing crises, but in Richmond Hill, you can drive around what is now a city and see lots of places to build homes, condos or apartment buildings. But where all the home construction is happening, farther up Yonge Street in more rural areas, there’s no convenient public transit, so traffic on Yonge has been steadily increasing. There is large, vacant piece of land on Yonge next to a transit stop with many businesses in walking distance, but the property is vacant, overgrown with weeds and strewn with garbage. So much for Premier Doug Ford’s promise to override any obstacles to preventing housing construction.
Dorothy Low, Richmond Hill
Ling’s op-ed provides a clear reality check. Yet, while Ling rightly dedicated his column to setting the record straight on Robertson’s recent gaffe, some details that he might not have had room to include merit elaboration.
On housing supply and demand, the issue goes beyond the reality that more buyers are vying for fewer homes. As long as investors and speculators compete with those buyers who simply want a roof over their head, this crisis will not abate, and politicians should not be shielding such interests. Rather, they should consider policies that give home-occupying buyers a clear advantage over their profit-minded competitors.
There also needs to be a discussion about mortgage risk and regulation. Too many home-seekers are overextending themselves for that four-bedroom house with an ensuite bathroom and designer kitchen. As Ling looked “back through Canadian history,” no doubt he would have seen that people didn’t always need these things. Lenders need to be part of the solution, as many buyers wrongly believe they can extend themselves based on the false premise that they can sell for more if their finances demand it.
Gino Salvo, Mississauga
Opinion articles are based on the author’s interpretations and judgments of facts, data and events. More details
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