* There is a healthy debate among Canadian housing advocates on whether government policy should make homeownership attainable for the middle class, or whether the focus should be primarily, or solely, on renting.
* In the view of MMI, the value of having options has been underemphasized, and there is a real loss of agency and well-being when the middle-class is locked out of homeownership, which extends beyond material deprivation.
* Locking the middle class out of homeownership has significant political implications, including reduced support for social housing initiatives.
* Gen Xers and Baby Boomers do not fully realize the corrosive impact on intergenerational unity when we tell Millennials and Gen Z that they should be fine with being denied the options that our generations took for granted.
!ping YIMBY
hibikir_40k on
What just has to happen is that returns from owning real state (not building, just owning) have to be pretty bad, because otherwise it doesn’t matter how cheap housing starts as: it’s a matter of how many decades before the value is x16 the original price, and it keeps doubling.
If there just was some way, some how, to make sure that returns from just owning land were limited in some way, as to make the focus be only on making improvements.
WifeGuy-Menelaus on
The Feds have been pumping demand for ownership for ages – while neglecting all-market affordability (rental and ownership arent 1:1 but they are interrelated) and the overwhelming “rental” option hitherto are shitty shoebox own-to-rent condos.
Any focus on renting is novel, either in the form of incentives to pivot from the previously broken model of condo building towards actual purpose built rental, or affordable housing initiatives.
Who has *abandoned* ownership here? Why did the most marginal of turns drive such a stick up Moffat’s ass?
If you want options, lets get some single stair reforms so families will better like units in high density contexts and zoning reform to open up a wider range of housing typologies, and let the market reflect demand
_n8n8_ on
I think homeownership is a tad overrated on its own because of how subsidized it is. But I agree that choice does matter. There are plenty of valid reasons to rent, society just sees people who rent as sucker’s because homeowners got their biggest expense subsidized into being a good investment.
I know this is Canadian based, but in the US (not sure if it’s a US thing or California thing actually) there are barriers to homeownership where most new housing is for rent because it’s too easy to sue the developers of condos for defects and the law codifying that got abused so developers build apartments because it’s less risky
Housing policy generally shouldn’t focus on ownership or financing structures. The rent vs own debate, along with more esoteric structures like CLTs or Co-Ops or wtv, is basically a distraction. It almost verges on ‘this one weird trick’ type solutions.
The issue is that land values (for developable land) and construction costs in Canadian cities are astronomical. If it costs ~$1200psf to build a new unit, you’re going to end up with expensive and small housing units. Whether it’s expensive rental housing or expensive owner occupied housing is neither here nor there.
AlexB_SSBM on
just tax land lol
WashedPinkBourbon on
I would love to see ownership encouraged, just that it doesn’t have to be SFH housing that you own.
7 Comments
* There is a healthy debate among Canadian housing advocates on whether government policy should make homeownership attainable for the middle class, or whether the focus should be primarily, or solely, on renting.
* In the view of MMI, the value of having options has been underemphasized, and there is a real loss of agency and well-being when the middle-class is locked out of homeownership, which extends beyond material deprivation.
* Locking the middle class out of homeownership has significant political implications, including reduced support for social housing initiatives.
* Gen Xers and Baby Boomers do not fully realize the corrosive impact on intergenerational unity when we tell Millennials and Gen Z that they should be fine with being denied the options that our generations took for granted.
!ping YIMBY
What just has to happen is that returns from owning real state (not building, just owning) have to be pretty bad, because otherwise it doesn’t matter how cheap housing starts as: it’s a matter of how many decades before the value is x16 the original price, and it keeps doubling.
If there just was some way, some how, to make sure that returns from just owning land were limited in some way, as to make the focus be only on making improvements.
The Feds have been pumping demand for ownership for ages – while neglecting all-market affordability (rental and ownership arent 1:1 but they are interrelated) and the overwhelming “rental” option hitherto are shitty shoebox own-to-rent condos.
Any focus on renting is novel, either in the form of incentives to pivot from the previously broken model of condo building towards actual purpose built rental, or affordable housing initiatives.
Who has *abandoned* ownership here? Why did the most marginal of turns drive such a stick up Moffat’s ass?
If you want options, lets get some single stair reforms so families will better like units in high density contexts and zoning reform to open up a wider range of housing typologies, and let the market reflect demand
I think homeownership is a tad overrated on its own because of how subsidized it is. But I agree that choice does matter. There are plenty of valid reasons to rent, society just sees people who rent as sucker’s because homeowners got their biggest expense subsidized into being a good investment.
I know this is Canadian based, but in the US (not sure if it’s a US thing or California thing actually) there are barriers to homeownership where most new housing is for rent because it’s too easy to sue the developers of condos for defects and the law codifying that got abused so developers build apartments because it’s less risky
https://cayimby.org/blog/defective-condo-defect-laws-ripe-for-repair/
(I looked it up it’s a California thing)
Housing policy generally shouldn’t focus on ownership or financing structures. The rent vs own debate, along with more esoteric structures like CLTs or Co-Ops or wtv, is basically a distraction. It almost verges on ‘this one weird trick’ type solutions.
The issue is that land values (for developable land) and construction costs in Canadian cities are astronomical. If it costs ~$1200psf to build a new unit, you’re going to end up with expensive and small housing units. Whether it’s expensive rental housing or expensive owner occupied housing is neither here nor there.
just tax land lol
I would love to see ownership encouraged, just that it doesn’t have to be SFH housing that you own.