Futureproofing Canada What Broke Housing in Canada, and How to Fix It
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Jan 28, 2026 
Carolyn Whitzman, senior housing researcher at U of T and author of Home Truths, unpacks how policy shifts hollowed out affordable and non-market housing. She explores zoning, finance, and legal barriers that block co-housing and large-scale solutions. International contrasts and practical pathways like financing reform, municipal tools, and scaling non-market providers are highlighted.
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Neoliberal Shift Shrunk Social Housing
- Canada shifted from public to market-led housing from the 1970s onward, reducing social housing supply dramatically.
- That policy change increased investment into housing and left rental and non-market options scarce for decades.
Housing Costs Exceed Middle-Class Reach
- Housing costs now put homeownership two to three times beyond what middle-class families can reasonably afford.
- Minimum-wage earners cannot afford a one-bedroom in any Canadian city, pushing broad swaths of the population into need.
Seniors Outliving Housing Assumptions
- Seniors now form a growing share of the population and face housing mismatches as life expectancy rises.
- Whitzman recalls older public housing assumptions that seniors would live only a few years after retirement, which no longer holds true.
