While some are praising the Liberals' proposed rent-to-own program as a positive initiative that helps renters who are struggling with a down payment, others say it caters to a niche group of constituents, and that housing supply is what all parties need to focus on to make cities like Toronto more affordable.
For years, housing costs have plagued millennials. Some of us graduated into a recession; others have seen stagnant salaries and limits for growth. The harsh reality became clear: we would have fewer economic opportunities than our parents’ generation. The pandemic has been a nightmare, but for some, anyway it seemed at first to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reverse those dire prospects. Like so many other twentysomethings, I have been limited in where I can live by my daily commute to the office. I spent most of my working life tethered to the city: first Toronto, then, as prices became increasingly unreasonable, the nearby city of Burlington. I’d accepted that I would likely be confined to an overpriced rental for years to come. But COVID-19 has changed that. My job, like many other office positions, will stay remote after the pandemic ends a shift that has made countless other young middle-class workers reevaluate not only how they work but where. Now, young people ar
(Photograph by Kathleen Fisher)
Nowhere to buy
Soaring home prices, insane bidding wars and cancelled dreams have spread from urban centres into towns across Canada. How did everywhere become Toronto and Vancouver?
May 17, 2021
It would keep happening, even though Louise Haehnel knew resisting her tendency to daydream would prevent more heartbreak. She and her husband, James, would view a house listed in Oshawa, Ont., or further afield. And she’d begin to imagine: the sofa here, the pictures there; six-year-old Aubree taking this bedroom and four-year-old Ava getting that one, instead of them having to share in the Haehnels’ small apartment. “Then, every single time, we’re disappointed,” she says, “because we’re not just a little bit outbid we’re nowhere near in the running.”