Housing proposals during federal campaign hearken back to a different kind of war
1940s wartime policy built tens of thousands of homes. Could Canada do that again?
The trade war may be top of voters’ minds this election, but so is housing. And amid proposals to fix the country’s housing crisis is a pitch that hearkens back to a different kind of war.
The Liberals’ housing proposal Monday was, in part, to create a federal developer that could build low-cost homes on government land. It’s one their leader, Mark Carney, was happy to compare to a massive federal effort to build homes during and after the Second World War, first for war industry workers, then for returning veterans.
The New Democrats have also proposed building on federally owned land, in their case by working with non-profits and co-ops to build more than 100,000 rent-controlled units and a $1-billion fund to buy more land.
Both parties’ pitches resemble the wartime effort that was revived a little over a year ago when then Liberal housing minister Sean Fraser announced a consultation on developing a catalogue of pre-approved home designs to accelerate homebuilding by developers.
The designs, now available to view on the CMHC website, include low-rise builds, such as small multiplexes, student housing and seniors’ residences, labelled “gentle density.”
So, how did those 1940s policies work? And could they really apply to today’s world — tariffs and all? …[Continue Reading]