Affordable Housing Crisis and the Election

The need for affordable housing in Canada has reached a crisis level. The plans of the political parties seeking election in September contain incentives, regulations and restrictions to hopefully increase the supply of affordable and deeply affordable housing.

Balance to create affordable housing

 

CBC The Current asks two nonpartisan experts what the parties are promising on affordable housing ahead of election day. Leilani Farha, former U.N. Special Rapporteur on the right to housing, now the global director of the Shift, an organisation that's focussed on that issue, speaking on CBC the Current, thinks the parties need to get their head around addressing homelessness. It has to be urgent and a priority. These are life and death situations.

 

These are situations that are desperate and need to be addressed. She thinks we definitely need more supply in the country. That's a given, but it's what kind of supply. It is necessary to encourage supply, but encourage affordable and deeply affordable supply. She thinks that has to be a priority. Housing is understood as a human right, and there are a lot of people who are not at all enjoying that right in any way in this country.1

 Murtaza Haider, professor of data science and real estate management at Ryerson University and research director of the Urban Analytics Institute, thinks homelessness is a thing that he was expecting a little more on because he saw some mention of it in each platform. 

Conservatives and NDP call it a crisis. They have put forward plans to increase the supply of new housing or new construction. They have to put measures to help new home buyers, especially First-Time Homebuyers or the Millennials, to purchase more homes. There's some programmes to increase the construction of new rental housing. But if you put all of these together, these programmes are not aggressive enough to address the almost five decades of under-construction that we have built fewer homes than we were building in the 70s on a per capita basis in Canada, which has created this state where housing is unaffordable for many people, both renting and buying.1

Natasha Bulowski comments that the sad truth is, Canada’s housing affordability crisis has been 30 years in the making. In a nation where housing needs drastically outstrip availability in most cities, and where the private sector is unwilling or unable to build more truly affordable units, could the COVID-19 pandemic offer a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to embrace new policies and new partnerships with the non-profit housing sector? Could we not use this moment to fix Canada’s housing crisis for good times and bad?

“The private sector is not going to get us out of our housing emergency,” said Ottawa-Centre Councilor Catherine McKenney when I spoke to her in March. “When we talk about affordable housing, supportive housing, social housing, we can’t look at a profit margin. We have to look at a health, social service margin. We have to make sure people are well taken care of and once you put profit into that you will lose that.” Not only must cities figure out ways to prevent the erosion of existing housing stock—“so that we aren’t losing that affordable stock as property owners and landlords renovate and push out tenants,” said McKenney—but also how to drastically increase the construction of new affordable rental units, preferably by public or non-profit actors and in combination with provincial and federal rental assistance programs, so that people can afford to pay for their homes.2

John Rapley, a political economist at the University of Cambridge, speaking on CBC Cross Country Checkup, notes that Canadians value the gains they've made from a soaring housing market. While he welcomes plans to create more housing stock, Rapley warns that new developments will likely face opposition. Communities may push back against plans to increase a neighbourhood's density, which could cause projects to move to lower-income areas or the outskirts of cities, adding to urban sprawl. He believes it won't be up to governments to decide how to move forward, but rather what Canadian homeowners will allow them to do.

"You can't actually just say we'll build cheap houses here and [have] all the other houses keep their same value. Once you add supply to the market, the price and everything comes down, and that's not popular."3

Canada's major federal parties have shared their visions for making housing accessible, offering up ideas from restrictions on foreign buyers to building more housing.3

With many prospective homebuyers feeling squeezed out of the market, and others struggling to find reasonably priced rent in cities across the country, housing affordability has emerged as a key issue for voters ahead of the Sept. 20 election.

 

References

1	(n.d.). The Current with Matt Galloway | Live Radio | CBC Listen. Retrieved August 31, 2021, from https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-63-the-current/clip/15863238-what-parties-promising-affordable-housing-ahead-election-day
2	(2020, May 1). Our opportunity to end housing poverty - | Canadian Centre for .... Retrieved August 31, 2021, from https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/monitor/our-opportunity-end-housing-poverty
3	(2021, August 29). Measures to make housing more affordable wouldn't be popular with .... Retrieved August 31, 2021, from https://www.cbc.ca/radio/checkup/how-affordable-is-your-housing-situation-right-now-1.6155647/measures-to-make-housing-more-affordable-wouldn-t-be-popular-with-voters-economist-1.6155683

 

Update on Policy for Emission Reduction

NDC Commitments Canada

 

As Canadian Federal Election #44 comes closer, the policy of the political parties concerning meeting GHG reduction goals set by the IPCC needs to be examined and critically evaluated.

 

Stephanie Taylor of The Canadian Press reports to Global News that Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole rejects the Liberals’ higher emission reduction goal but vows to still meet the Paris target. O’Toole is facing criticism after rejecting Canada’s new target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in favour of a lower one first set by Stephen Harper.

His pledge comes as Canada prepares to attend the United Nations Climate Change conference this fall where countries are expected to commit more ways to tackle the issue. In anticipation of the meeting, the Liberal government recently increased its targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions to between 40 to 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, up from 30 per cent. The 30 per cent goal was set by former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper and was the commitment the country was held to under the 2015 Paris Agreement. O’Toole says the Conservatives’ climate change plan “will meet the Paris objectives” of 30 per cent, despite the United Nations specifying the agreement works by countries coming up with “increasingly ambitious climate action” every five years.1

Mitchell Beer has compiled a report in the The Energy Mix noting that Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole pledged to move boldly backwards on Canada’s emissions reduction target, and the fossil lobby has published its campaign wish list, and the climate crisis held its spot as a top concern for Canadian voters as the federal election moved into its third week.

Speaking in Newfoundland on Friday, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole said he would jettison the Trudeau government’s international commitment to cut Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions 40 to 45% by 2030, and return to the Harper-era target of 30%, in search of a carbon target the country can achieve without “crippling” the economy.

If Canada were to [act on O’Toole’s promise], it would not violate an obligation, because the NDC itself is not legally binding,” University of Toronto law professor Jutta Brunnée explained. “But it would be contrary to the spirit of the Paris Agreement,” and “a challenge to the entire logic of the Paris Agreement, because the logic is progression over time. So it’s not something that one should take lightly.” New Democrats are campaigning on a 50% GHG reduction target by 2030, while the Green Party is talking about 60%..2

The fossil lobby has published its campaign wish list and CAPP President and CEO Tim McMillan says “To be resilient and sustainable, recovery will be a multi-year process based on robust economic activity.”

 McMillan says continues “ It is crucially important for the incoming federal government to make policy decisions that position Canada for success in an ultra-competitive international investment market. Investment supports industry growth and is vital to developing and commercializing technologies that reduce emissions, water use, and more.” Cenovus Energy CEO Alex Pourbaix let it be known—apparently without a hint of irony—that he expects Canadian taxpayers to shell out up to C$52.5 billion to help his industry get the carbon out of its operations. “It’s going to take tens of billions of dollars over 30 years to decarbonize [our oil] industry,” Pourbaix said2

Angela Carter, associate professor of political science at the University of Waterloo, noted that climate was already a top priority in the 2019 election.

“But this year, there’s a difference.“ There is a growing awareness that the climate crisis is, of course, also a health crisis,” Carter told the CBC. “And we have leaders, international leaders, Mark Carney is one of these, at the United Nations who said that the climate crisis in 50 years is going to look like a COVID pandemic every single year.”2

Sussex Strategy Group Senior Counsel Shawn McCarthy says climate change will show up as a “wedge issue” on the campaign trail, even if it didn’t much look that way in the first two weeks.

Though Conservative Leader O’Toole has made an effort to close the gap between his party’s 2019 climate platform and its position today, there are still “yawning differences among the parties with regard to climate ambition,” McCarthy writes. “There continue to be deep cleavages in terms of how they would treat the oil and gas sector, which is responsible for 25% of Canada’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.” While the Trudeau government is vulnerable on its continuing support for the fossil industry, not least its decision to buy the Trans Mountain pipeline with taxpayers’ dollars, O’Toole’s carbon target “is clearly insufficient to put the country on course for achieving net-zero status by 2050,” McCarthy says. “The Liberals will no doubt remind climate-conscious voters that the Conservatives have not endorsed the net-zero target.”.2

The commitment of the Government we elect on September 20 to aggressively cooperate with the industrial nations of the world to reduce GHG emissions is essential to mitigate the effects in storms, fires, biodiversity, and public health of the climate emergency.

 

References

1	2021, August 27). O'Toole rejects Liberals' higher emission reduction ... - Global News. Retrieved August 30, 2021, from https://globalnews.ca/news/8146328/conservative-party-climate-target-canada-election/
2	(n.d.). The Energy Mix: Home. Retrieved August 30, 2021, from https://www.theenergymix.com/

 

Climate Change Denial in the Election

Reports of climate change denial politics prior to the September 2021 Federal Election are extremely disheartening when Canada requires immediate and comprehensive government action to win the Good War against the Climate Crisis.

A Strong Climate Policy

 

A tweet by Steven Guilbeault

[@s_guilbeault] identifies more than a dozen election candidate responses and statements that resonate with the theme of climate change denial.

Erin O’Toole has made the Conservative party a home for dinosaurs. These examples are just scratching the surface of the climate change denial rampant in his party.1

In the Globe and Mail, Eric Reguly writes that the rush to net-zero could hit the economy as hard as the 1973-74 oil crisis. In a recent note, the French economist Jean Pisani-Ferry, of the Peterson Institute for International Economics and the European University Institute near Florence, said that “fundamentally … decarbonization amounts to putting a price on a resource that used to be free.”

The faster the transition to net-zero, the greater the economic disruption. But a fast transition might be required to prevent catastrophic climate change. Under that scenario, highly polluting industries might have to be sent to the scrap heap virtually overnight. “Procrastination has reduced the chances of engineering an orderly transition,” Mr. Pisani-Ferry said. Another risk is rising public debt. Governments will have to subsidize the transition and support employees who are made redundant. Debt-to-GDP ratios, which are already soaring to finance pandemic expenditures, could reach astronomical levels. Some of what Mr. Pisani-Ferry said can be challenged. His report’s true value is his small but compelling effort to end the fantasy that achieving net-zero emissions will be a net jobs generator, so stop worrying. The effort could be hellish. We got started too late and our global house needs emergency repairs.2

In the upcoming election, Climate Champions need our vote. An emergency response is necessary and delay greatly increases the cost of winning the battle against this existential threat.

 

References

1	Guilbeault S.[@s_guilbeault].(2021, August 30).Erin O’Toole has made the Conservative party a home for dinosaurs. These examples are just scratching the surface of the climate change denial rampant in his party. [Tweet].Tweetdeck.https://twitter.com/s_guilbeault/status/1432316750222315526
2	(2021, August 27). The rush to net-zero could hit the economy as hard as the 1973-74 oil. Retrieved August 30, 2021, from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-the-rush-to-net-zero-could-hit-the-economy-as-hard-as-the-1973-74-oil/

 

Climate Champions need your vote

The ballot box issue that is most likely to affect the lives of young people is our success or failure in taking immediate action to address the existential threat of the climate emergency.

Election Action

 

Seth Klein advises Canadians that in a climate emergency election, we need to find our climate justice champions. The Parliament we elect on Sept. 20 will hold our fate in its hands. Those seeking office must prove to us all that they get the emergency and are prepared to do what it takes to meet this moment with us. These are tough calls and our current electoral system doesn’t make it any easier.

First, we desperately need to hold the government to a minority. Minority governments are more accountable. They are compelled to work with others, rather than govern with impunity for four years. More importantly, a minority means the public is given ongoing openings to press for stronger and bolder policies. The Liberals’ climate record — taking modest action on climate while simultaneously subsidizing and supporting the expansion of fossil fuel production — certainly does not merit them the majority they cynically seek with this early election call. Second, we need to elect a huge contingent of true climate justice champions — people who genuinely get the emergency and will insist on bold action. With the country on fire, we need to elect political firefighters. We need to bolster the ranks of the climate squad across a number of parties. So, find your climate champion! If you don’t think you have one in your riding or, more likely, you don’t think they have a realistic chance of winning in your riding, then find one in a neighbouring winnable riding, and do everything you can to get them elected — donate, volunteer, organize, and vote.1

How do we  identify those climate champions?

Identify Champs

 

Some groups active on the climate emergency file include 350.org, Lead Now, and the Climate Emergency Unit. These groups will be endorsing climate champion candidates.

	groups active on the climate emergency file
1	350.org	Tell Senior leaders to be tough on climate
2	Lead Now	launch an all-out campaign to elect bold champions for a just and safe future
3	Climate Emergency Unit	Will prepare a list of candidate questions
4	Environmental Defence	Has also produced a helpful guide to “What Makes a Strong Climate Plan.”

 

Environmental Defence explains, firstly, a strong climate plan should have climate targets that align with climate science.

Climate targets that align with climate science. Canada must do our fair share to prevent the most catastrophic impacts of climate change by ensuring that global warming stays as close to 1.5°C as possible – which in Canada means reducing CO2 emissions by at least 60% below 2005 levels by 2030 across the country. Because Canada has created an outsized amount of emissions over the last century, Ottawa also must invest $5.2 billion annually in emissions reductions in developing countries.

No more new oil, gas and coal projects. Canada is still planning to produce more oil and gas than what is consistent with a climate-safe future. A credible climate plan must say NO to all new and under construction oil, gas and coal projects. It must also include a plan to wind down production of oil and gas over the next two decades.

An end to fossil fuel subsidies. Canada is still providing billions of dollars of government money to the oil and gas industry each year. A credible climate plan must include a concrete plan to end all subsidies and public financial support for oil and gas immediately.

A way to make polluters pay. Polluters must also be held accountable for their harm to the land, water and climate, especially for their disproportionate harm to Indigenous, racialized and low-income communities. They have spent years covering up the true cost of clean up, and will leave the costs to the public without strong accountability.

A ramp up of renewables and energy efficiency. We have the solutions to transition our systems away from fossil fuels to 100% renewable energy. And we can do so by creating good, safe jobs across the country by investing big in electricity infrastructure, renewable energy, electric transportation, public transit and energy efficiency projects like home and business energy retrofits and more.

A commitment to ensure that the transition to a low carbon economy is just and equitable. This includes developing and implementing a transition plan to phase out fossil fuels, designed by and for workers and communities whose livelihoods will be disrupted by the transition. It also must involve those, including Indigenous Peoples and frontline communities, who have been disproportionately harmed by the fossil fuel-based economy.2

When we prepare to vote we need to consider electing climate champions in ridings that they can win

A Strong Climate Plan

 

as well as denying a majority to any party in the realization that minority governments are more responsive to current needs and emergencies.

 

References

1	(2021, August 25). In a climate emergency election, find your climate justice champion. Retrieved August 25, 2021, from https://www.nationalobserver.com/2021/08/25/opinion/election-2021-find-your-climate-justice-champion
2	(n.d.). What makes a strong climate plan? - Environmental Defence. Retrieved August 25, 2021, from https://environmentaldefence.ca/report/election-climate-policies/