Canada’s third-largest city, Vancouver has seen its housing market soar to troubling levels in 2024, with the average home price climbing to C$713,500. This figure is a sharp contrast to an average household income after taxes in Canada, which is around C$88,000. This inequity has raised concerns regarding the future of homeownership in this increasingly popular city. Younger generations are particularly starting to feel the crunch as they are increasingly getting priced out of the market.
The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) has identified a staggering need for over 3.8 million homes to be constructed within the next six years to alleviate the ongoing housing shortage. To address this pressing issue, the Liberal Party, led by Mark Carney, has unveiled a plan to build 500,000 new homes annually through a newly established government agency called Build Canada Homes. The initiative aims to streamline construction processes and provide more affordable housing options across the country.
Vancouver acts as the poster child for Canada’s housing crisis. The average price of the city’s detached stock skyrocketed—from about C$350,000 in 2000. By 2024, it was over C$2 million. This shocking increase has caused many of its residents, and especially younger people, to lose hope in ever finding a home they can afford.
“You have to win the lottery, or marry a multi-millionaire. These are kind of the options,” – Ms Dovgal
Historically, Vancouver has been zoned primarily for single-family homes, with more than half of its land designated for this purpose. This zoning policy is at the root of our incredibly constrained housing supply and affordability crisis. Calgary, Alberta’s largest city, experienced a staggering 15% increase in home prices from last year. This increase highlights the fact that other parts of the country are struggling with affordability issues.
Amid these challenges, advocacy groups like Abundant Housing Vancouver, co-founded by Daniel Oleksiuk, are pushing for policy changes that would allow for more diverse housing options. These advocacy organizations claim that loosening zoning restrictions and encouraging more higher-density housing will relieve the pressures on the market.
The federal government has the ability through direct funding and policy levers to reduce the cost and increase the speed of building throughout Canada. As many critics have pointed out, political leaders cannot continue to be blind to the generational tensions that have come to characterize housing affordability.
“None of the parties are really naming that generational tension,” – Patrice Roy
The topic of affordable housing took centre stage in the recent federal leaders’ debate, and for good reason. Soaring inflation is hurting millions of Canadians. Because of this, voters are more and more alarming by what their political representatives will do to combat this crisis.
With the state of the housing market getting worse each day, many young people are feeling hopeless about their prospects to find affordable housing. To Emily Chu, a resident of the city of Vancouver, it all felt personal.
“That’s not even possible for most people my age. Everybody kind of assumes that we can’t ever own housing,” – Emily Chu
Generation Squeeze is an advocacy-based think tank started by Paul Kershaw, a UBC public policy professor. In their recommendations, they underscore the need for immediate action to rectify these inequities. Their study exposes what younger generations are up against as they attempt to make it in an ever-more-out-of-reach housing market.
Additionally, a recent report by Chapman University based in California has ranked Vancouver as one of the world’s top “impossibly unaffordable” cities. This designation highlights the seriousness of the housing crisis and what it means for its residents’ quality of life.