Current Insights
Money for Nothing?
June 2014 Last month Calgary mayor, Naheed Nenshi expressed an interest in mandatory inclusionary zoning to force developers to apportion a percentage of the units they are building for affordable housing (Nenshi senses housing crisis, G&M Mar 28th). While this...
The fiscal impact of expiring federal social housing operating subsidies
Last week in Ottawa the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM)hosted a meeting of the caucus of Big City Mayors to discuss municipal concerns about federal funding for infrastructure and social housing. Of particular note is the efforts of FCM and other advocates...
Steve muses on future of CMHC (Globe and Mail)
Last week I submitted a Letter to the Editor of the Globe and Mail. While it was published in the electronic version of the paper on Nov 30th, it was severely edited removing the nuances that I had included. You can see the published version (page down through...
Remarkable trend in homeownership among young households
A colleague recently sent me an email seeking my advice on data sources to answer an issue he was examining. He noted that RBC reports that housing affordability is declining and expressed a concern that it is increasingly hard for first time buyers in urban markets:...
Steve Presents at IRPP conference
Last week, I participated in a conference hosted by the Institute for Public Policy examining the policy implications of aging. The presentation explored the implications for the housing sector, both market and non-market aspects. A key point is that most demographers...