... yet for too many — especially younger people and renters of any age — an affordable place to call home has become a distant dream.

Governments across Canada keep saying the solution is simple: just build more homes. We do need more supply, but building alone won’t fix a system that’s tilted against affordability.

To restore balance, we must tackle three deeper structural problems driving the crisis:

1. Wealth over shelter. Housing policies reward homeowners and investors for banking on rising prices, even as those same prices lock others out.

2. Faulty metrics. Canada’s measure of housing inflation masks rising costs, delaying the right policy responses.

3. No clear target. Without a goal for home prices, rising market values are celebrated as a sign of economic strength – not a barrier to affordability.

Canada's National Housing Strategy expires in 2027

Gen Squeeze and the Parliamentary Budget Officer have confirmed that housing investments will fall if it's not renewed, leaving struggling Canadians far from the "historic" action that was promised. A revamped NHS must preserve and expand housing funds — and finally address the structural barriers standing in the way of long-term affordability.

Read more about what we need in NHS 2.0