06/18/2026
Canada used to build housing.
During the Second World War, a federal Crown corporation built more than 45,000 homes. By the 1970s, all three levels of government treated housing as a public responsibility, backing a system of public, co-operative, and non-profit homes for families, seniors, and people with disabilities.
Then the thinking changed. Through the 1980s and 90s, governments handed responsibility to the private market and cut their own investment. In 1995, federal funding for new affordable housing ended outright. For the next seven years, almost no new non-profit housing was built in this country.
The bet was that private developers would close the gap. They didn't, because they were never trying to. Developers build to generate profit, and housing became an asset to grow wealth rather than a place for people to live.
That's where we are now. In Toronto, the average one-bedroom rents for about $2,400 a month. Someone working full-time at minimum wage would have to spend 98% of their income to afford it. More than 85,000 households are waiting for subsidized housing here, some for 12 to 15 years.
None of this is an accident or a market hiccup. It is the predictable result of a decision to stop treating housing as something people need.
