Perspectives: A Canadian Journal of Political Economy and Social Democracy - What Progressives Are Getting Wrong (and Right!) About Affordable Housing with Professor Carolyn Whitzman

What Progressives Are Getting Wrong (and Right!) About Affordable Housing with Professor Carolyn Whitzman

12/20/23 • 39 min

Perspectives: A Canadian Journal of Political Economy and Social Democracy

Perspectives Journal sat down with Professor Carolyn Whitzman to dive deeper into her Globe and Mail article published last August entitled Canada’s progressive parties have lost the plot on the housing crisis. This was a response to Prime Minister Trudeau’s earlier blunt statement that “housing is not federal responsibility” while ordinary Canadians experience an unprecedented housing crisis.
In her piece, she asked:
What’s with the silence from allegedly more progressive parties on the doubling of the quantum of non-market housing, a policy that has been recommended by everyone from the industry body for community housing to one of Canada’s big banks?
Why not talk about housing in terms of industrial strategy (something we love to talk about here at Perspectives Journal) and the role of government in building more housing supply, instead of trying to outflank Pierre Poilievre’s inconsistent policy slogans from the right wing?
Since then, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has stated that “governments should get out of home building,” even after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau already confirmed that, so clearly that hasn’t solved anything.
And meanwhile, progressives have yet to propose big plans to get government back into housing while 2/3rds of Canadians surveyed by Leger in early December wanted the federal government to spend more money on its Housing Strategy.
But in recent months, a number of new spending announcements and policy changes have come from social democratic administrations in BC and Toronto, talking about big spends and policy changes to jump start building out the supply for decommodified, non-market housing.
Is this even close to enough, and what exactly are progressives getting wrong, and right, about housing affordability?
From Singapore to Sweden, and British Columbia to Toronto, we talk about what other countries have been doing to build non-market housing, and how governments can get back into the business of home building.
Carolyn Whitzman is a housing and social policy consultant, expert adviser to the Housing Assessment Resource Tools (HART) project at the University of British Columbia, and adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa.
Show note links:
The Globe and Mail - 'Canada’s progressive parties have lost the plot on the housing crisis', by Carolyn Whitzman, 18 August 2023.
Housing Assessment Resource Tools project at the University of British Columbia.
YouTube explainer by Uytae Lee - 'The Non-capitalist Solution to the Housing Crisis'

Previous Episode

Green Industrial Policy in Canada

On October 17th, 2023 the Green Economy Network, a coalition of labour, environmental, and social justice organizations working to build a green economy in Canada, held a workshop in Ottawa at the Canadian Labour Congress to present its updated “Common Platform”, an action plan for investments in job creation and emissions reductions in key economic sectors.
To accompany the Common Platform, the Green Economy Network hosted a discussion on “Green Industrial Policy in Canada”--a crucial framework to build on public policy that can spur an economic transformation based on justice and equality.
But before getting into the weeds of Green Industrial Policy, just what the heck is it?
To deconstruct the true meaning of industrial policy, Christine Jones, Industrial Decarbonization Program Manager at Blue Green Canada, an organization that brings together unions, environmental groups and other research institutions to advocate for workers and the environment, leads and moderates this discussion.
Also joining this panel are

Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood, Senior Research at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
Angella MacEwen, Senior Economist for the National Canadian Union of Public Employees, and Broadbent Institute Policy Fellow
And John Cartwright, Chairperson of the Council of Canadians

This panel has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Show Notes
Read the three pillars of the updated Common Platform

Read analysis from Broadbent Policy Fellow Brendan Haley that asks, "Will the Response to the US Inflation Reduction Act Reveal Canada’s Lack of Green Industrial Policy?"
Subscribe to ShiftStorm, the CCPA's newsletter on work and climate change by panelist Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood.

Next Episode

Competition and Co-ops: MP Daniel Blaikie on Bill C-56, the Affordable Housing and Groceries Act

Earlier this fall, the federal Liberal government tabled Bill C-56, the Affordable Housing and Groceries Act, with the aim of jump starting construction of purpose built rental homes with a GST rebate on these kinds of projects, and increasing competition in the grocery industry by strengthening the federal Competition Bureau, upgrading its ability to investigate companies and closing loopholes in the merger approval process that may contribute to rising prices and profits.

The federal NDP doesn't think this bill has gone far enough and have requested a number of amendments to the first draft to include more non-market housing and removing political influence on the Competition Bureau, among a list of other measures, in order to pass the House.

What will this amended piece of legislation do for ordinary, working-class Canadians to make groceries affordable again, and does it go far enough? How has market concentration contributed to higher grocery receipts? Why should incentives for building more co-op housing be included in the final version of the bill?

Social democratic commentator and columnist Tom Parkin spoke to Daniel Blaikie, Member of Parliament for Elmwood—Transcona and NDP finance critic, about Bill C-56, grocery competition, and building non-market housing.

Show Note Links