Quote:
Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse
So while it's a complex issue with many variables, if you want to blame anyone for housing unaffordability the best place to start is with those whose policies have most increased inequality prior to the crisis taking hold. Policies that erode union protections, allow inflation to outpace minimum wages, reduce corporate taxes, increase corporate welfare, weaken the social safety net, etc.
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This doesn't really pass the sniff test as far as current prices go in major markets like Toronto or Vancouver. There isn't any reasonable adjustment of wages that could be made such that real estate would become widely affordable. Material from 2019 is outdated now as prices have increased while interest costs multiplied.
If you're talking about 2010's Vancouver rents or Toronto housing prices, sure, raising wages by some fraction through unionization or something might have helped. Those days are gone.
The main drivers these days are immigration-driven population growth relative to new supply and financial/regulatory considerations relating to housing itself that leads to bubbly pricing. I don't think these clearly map on to the NDP vs. Cons. The NDP have had more of a role in the current government that has overseen a catastrophic deterioration of housing affordability in the last few years. IMO the Canadian public doesn't really grasp the magnitude of what has gone wrong and there are so many third rails and sacred cows in Canada that politicians can't generally propose the kind of policy shift that's needed (fiscal discipline, halting human QE and live with miserable economic growth numbers, building lots of housing even if it annoys NIMBYs, etc.).