Marit Stiles: How governments can get back to building affordable housing

Toronto Star

02-06-2025

At this pivotal moment for our country, Canadians are looking for leadership that is focused, collaborative and ready to meet the moment. And there's no clearer test of that leadership than the housing crisis.
Families across this country are struggling with rising rents, impossible mortgages and an uncertain future. But we have a chance to turn things around. To build not just homes, but stability, opportunity and hope.
I was glad to see Prime Minister Mark Carney signal a stronger federal role in building housing with his proposal to get the government back in the business of building homes. It's a shift in the right direction and it aligns with what we've been calling for in Ontario.
The prime minister's 'Build Canada Homes' proposal mirrors what we've long called for as Ontario's official opposition: 'Homes Ontario' — a public agency with a clear mandate to finance, build and deliver hundreds of thousands of permanently affordable homes. Built on public land. Built at scale. Built with non-profit, co-op and supportive housing partners at the table from day one.
Ontario has had multiple opportunities to move from proposal to action. We've brought our Homes Ontario plan to a vote time and time again. Just last week, it was voted down once again, not only by the PC government, but by the Ontario Liberals as well.
But we're not giving up. With political will and real partnership, we can still treat housing the way we treat other essential infrastructure: as a public good, built to last.
If every level of government steps up, we have a real opportunity to finally build the range of deeply affordable homes people need and to do it at the scale this crisis demands.
Right now, most federal housing dollars are flowing to private developers with very few conditions attached. The $55 billion Apartment Construction Loan Program, for example, provides low-interest loans to build rental units, but just 20 per cent need to meet affordability criteria and only for a decade. In Ontario, those units are exempt from rent control.
That's a massive public investment with almost no lasting public benefit.
What if that same funding went to non-profits and co-ops? These are organizations whose mission is to deliver affordability, not extract profit. They're ready to build. They just need the backing to do it.
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In Toronto, Mayor Olivia Chow has a plan to build 20,000 new, nonmarket rentals. Across Ontario, there are shovel-ready co-op and community housing projects waiting for support. A serious federal-provincial partnership could unlock all of it, and create a generation of permanently affordable homes.
But we can't keep doing this piecemeal. We need to work together, across governments and across party lines, to scale up housing that people can actually afford.
And we have to confront the bigger picture: the financialization of housing is undermining our ability to build homes people can afford. We saw it clearly when the Ford government scrapped affordable housing rules in Toronto after pressure from corporate landlords. That one decision could mean the loss of thousands of affordable units and it shows just how urgently we need a new approach.
That means:
Rapidly scale nonmarket and deeply affordable housing.
Unlock and mobilize public land for housing construction.
Ensure investments create good union jobs and build industrial capacity.
Streamline timelines, remove barriers and build the infrastructure our communities need.
We've seen what happens when governments step back from housing. Now it's time to step back in with urgency, with clarity and with a plan that puts people first.
Let's build the kind of housing system that delivers real affordability, economic stability, and security for the next generation. It's possible. And it's long overdue.