Iuri Rezende Souza said he can carry two apartments in his hometown in Brazil, but in Kitchener, Ont., where he now lives, he can’t even afford a down payment.
“What I can afford is basically vacant lands,” the Kitchener Centre voter told CBC News.
Souza said his best path to home ownership since arriving in Canada five years ago would be to buy a vacant lot and put a trailer on it.
“My mom said: ‘If you’re living in a trailer, what’s the point of moving to Canada? You should just move back,'” said Souza.
With home prices and rental rates continuing to climb in the country, Souza isn’t alone. He’s just one of many respondents to a CBC News election survey that found housing is what matters most to them during this campaign for the April 28 vote.
For Canadians hoping to buy their first home, the message is clear — they want action from Ottawa and they want it now.
Souza isn’t convinced federal politicians are doing enough to address the issue, saying their focus is elsewhere.
“This total disconnect between everything else and housing is a sign,” he said. “Things are really bad.”
This viewpoint is shared by Chris Lozinski of Richmond Hill, Ont. He’s working to finish his studies at the University of Guelph, where he plans to vote.
“I’m rather disappointed with a lot of the major platforms because I feel like the majority of them don’t address the cause of the housing crisis,” he said.
Lozinski feels home ownership for Gen Z Canadians will be near impossible “without their parents either selling off their house or handing it down.”
Lozinski said he’s worried the type of housing being completed isn’t suitable for most people’s budgets.
“They’re not geared towards first-time buyers,” he said. “They’re starting from like $1 million upwards.
“I’ve never seen that much money in my life.”
Builders and advocates want fewer barriers
Scott Andison, CEO of the Ontario Home Builders’ Association, said the barriers to building more homes in the province are significant.
Outside of high material costs, Andison said, construction roadblocks usually pop up from government policies — namely high fees and a lack of infrastructure investments.
“This is water, wastewater, roads, things that are needed to be able to build new homes,” he said.
He said roughly 35 per cent of the cost of a home goes directly to the three levels of government, and that “needs to be rationalized and significantly reduced.”
He said cutting the GST on new home sales is a good start, but it has to be for all homebuyers, not just new purchasers.
Andison said that way current homeowners can move into a new house, “which frees that up for somebody else that’s waiting for one that might be more appropriate.”
But affordability advocates say it’s not only about how many homes get built, but what kind of homes get built, too.
Philip Mills, CEO of Habitat for Humanity Waterloo Region, said developers and governments need to prioritize affordable options.
“Housing is one of those things that touches everything,” Mills said. “If you can’t afford your housing, you certainly can’t afford groceries, you certainly can’t afford all the other things that have gone up.”
Habitat for Humanity is working on affordable projects in Cambridge and planning builds in Kitchener and Waterloo. Mills said he wants to see federal parties support local developers and non-profits committed to long-term affordability.
“I want this to be front-of-mind for them. This impacts all of our communities and is something that isn’t going to just go away.”
Mills said some of the policy ideas he’s hearing, however, are growing some hope.
“Talking about low-cost financing and use of public land for construction of homes. Those are all great ideas — stuff like that allows us to start getting out and building.”
What the major parties are promising
All the major federal parties are making housing a core part of their platforms, but their approaches differ.
The Conservative Party is proposing to cut GST on new homes under $1.3 million and tie federal funding for municipalities to housing construction targets. The party also wants to sell 15 per cent of federal buildings to create new affordable housing.
The Liberal Party would create a standalone agency focused on affordable housing development, with billions in financing for Canadian builders of prefabricated homes. Its platform also includes eliminating GST for first-time homebuyers on new and majorly renovated homes under $1 million.
The New Democratic Party has pledged a $16-billion strategy to build three million affordable homes by 2030. The party also wants to sell off suitable Crown lands to build 100,000 rent-controlled units and invest in further public land acquisition.
The Green Party wants to block corporations from buying single-family homes and ensure any publicly funded housing remains permanently affordable. It’s also proposing co-housing solutions like inter-generational living.
Voters want more than promises
Souza and Lozinski are among voters who say they’re paying close attention to what parties are and aren’t offering.
“Reducing GST for first-time homebuyers and specifically for new homes — that’s only going to affect some people and it’s going to be a very small percentage,” Souza said.
Lozinski said homes that are unaffordable from the start won’t solve the deeper issues.
“We need to kind of be careful in the next decade or so as we develop the area, ensuring that the middle class, and students and the population that makes up these areas now, they’re not left behind.
“That’s really what I’m looking for in any sort of local candidate, is someone who acknowledges that they’re there to work for people who vote for them, not for people who invest in them.”
While it’s not likely any one party can solve the housing crisis in a single term, voters in Waterloo region and the surrounding area are watching closely.
