As Canada grapples with the economic and social instability caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government is attempting to address the country’s staggering lack of affordable housing. But if a recent controversy in Toronto tells us anything, it’s that wealthy homeowners are going to push back.
At the end of September, the Trudeau government announced $1 billion in federal dollars over the next six months for municipalities across the country to develop various forms of affordable housing units, primarily through the leasing and acquisition of properties in decline, such as buildings designated for demolition or old hotels no longer in service.