New report calls for Canada to double its non-market housing

Where do we stand in relation to other countries?

The report calls for Canada to at least double its stock of non-market housing, from 3.5% of the housing system to 7% — the average level found in other high-income countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

According to the report, an increase of this size would provide 576,625 more Canadian households with a secure and affordable home.

At 3.5%, Canada's non-market housing sector makes up a smaller proportion of the housing system than it did in the 1990s (6%). Additionally, Canada's non-market sector is far smaller than in other countries such as the UK (16%), France (17%), Denmark (20%) and Austria (23%).

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And if we do nothing?

The report also cites an analysis from Deloitte for the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association and Housing Partnership Canada found that scaling-up the non-market housing sector to the size found in similar high-income countries would boost productivity by 5.7% to 9.3%, adding between $67 billion to $136 billion to Canada’s GDP.

However, if there are no increases to the country’s non-market housing stock, the results could be even costlier. The report cites another study in four Canadian cities that found that the costs of supporting an unhoused person in affordable housing was $5,000 to $8,000, compared to $13,000 to $42,000 in emergency shelters or $66,000 to $120,000 in institutional settings.

“The starting point for these recommendations is the need to shift perceptions of non-market housing from a ‘nice to have’ item of public spending, to one that is seen as essential infrastructure, without which our communities cannot function,” the report reads.

“Debate on transportation or sanitation focuses on ‘how’ and not ‘if.’ The conversation on delivering housing people can afford should unfold in the same way.”