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I read a government published economics report awhile back and one of their suggestions to halt the housing crisis was"get consumers to live in multi-generational homes to decrease demand" 💀.

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I think you really hit the nail on the head on this one; I just wonder if there ever will be the political willpower to do things like this. Even so-called progressive parties in places like BC have made little progress on addressing the housing crisis, and in other places like Ontario and Quebec the conservative parties seem to have a iron grip on rule that probably won't change within the next election cycle. Who knows, maybe Poilievre will solve the housing crisis (highly doubt it). I just can't help but think that there is so much capital interest in the housing market that it is unlikely to be solved. Maybe that's too cynical.

On the other hand, and I don't want to seem like I'm minimizing the housing crisis, I don't think that it's universal across Canada (it's probably most acute in the GTA and GVA). I think the Clarington example is maybe a bit cherry-picked. I know the 260k figure scared you from pursuing your dreams and I think that's an unfortunate reality. But you can afford a home in many places in Canada with a salary closer to 100k (source: https://www.ratehub.ca/blog/what-income-to-afford-home-canada/.) This is true even in Montreal, one of Canada's 3 major cities, where the average cost is 110k (although Mtl is getting less affordable). This is still not ideal as it's above the median income, but not everyone has to buy a home. It's probably cheaper to rent for a lot of people and renting isn't inherently worse as long as people get housing. I know that there are probably more opportunities in Toronto or Vancouver, or maybe you have familial or personal connections to Toronto or maybe even language barriers that prevent you from leaving. But at least on an individual basis (which I know obscures the point of this rant which is about structural issues), you have options where you don't need to strap yourself to a 200k job.

Edit: actually this is a bad 12 am take like I personally would never move to Alberta or the Maritimes no matter how cheap it was so that leaves your only options as Ottawa (ugh) or Montreal and otherwise the Clarington example is very real

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lol you're 100% right. i went and found a rather extreme example that i could use. things are bad, but they are not as bad as clarington vacant lot. that part was for dramatic effect.

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Damnit, I was excited for the Santa’s

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