Housing Policy Under Harper
Today I gave a presentation on Canadian housing policy at the annual conference of the European Network for Housing Research. Points raised in the presentation include the following: -Fiscal context,…
Housing
Waterloo Must Amend Discriminatory Rental Housing Licensing Bylaw: Ontario Human Rights Commission
The Ontario Human Rights Commission’s report on its inquiry into housing licensing in the City of Waterloo is out. It urges the city to remove discriminatory sections of its rental…
Vancity & Anti-gentrification CCAP Protests in DTES: When social economy work gets messy
Vancity is a co-operative bank that has been a long time funder of the Carnegie Community Action Project. On April 13th Vancity released a statement on their stance on CCAP…
New column day
Here, applying the recently-approved Somerset development as an example of why we should expect elected representatives to do more than just remind us that we’re on our own in dealing…
The Pidgin Picket, the Housing Crisis and the State
The Role of The State in Gentrification, the Housing Crisis, and its Ability to Relieve or Maintain the Current Situation by Rachel Goodine Pidgin, a new fine-dining restaurant located on…
Glass-House Mortgages
A letter appears in today’s Globe and Mail in response to recent direction given by Minister Flaherty to private mortgage lenders over mortgage rates. The letter was written by Steve…
Canada News Headlines: Stephen Harper – World’s Worst Talent Scout
Curated By: Obert Madondo | The Canadian Progressive | Feb. 27, 2013: Stephen Harper – world’s worst talent scout Sooner or later, the country is going to realize that there…
Elizabeth May urges MPs to vote for the NDP’s housing Bill C-400
By: Green Party of Canada (Press Release) | Feb. 27, 2013: OTTAWA – Green Leader and Member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands Elizabeth May will vote in favour of Bill…
No Sting: Feds Won’t Go Undercover to Prove Housing Discrimination
by Nikole Hannah-Jones | ProPublica: The four-bedroom house advertised on Craigslist sounded like just what Claire Rembis and her husband had been looking for. It sat on two verdant acres…
Conservative Canada Is Closer To Crisis
Referenced IMF data can be found here Canada's increasing Debt-to-GDP ratio is a problem no one is talking about. While the country's gross government debt (which includes all levels of…
Flaherty muses on CMHC privatization
“Flaherty eyes privatization of CMHC.” Well that’s something big to watch. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation is a profitable Crown corporation ($335 million in profit in the 2nd quarter)…
Household debt going from bad to worse
Canadians are now more indebted than either Americans or the Brits at the peak of their housing bubble. Statistics Canada today revised the national accounts. The result on the household…
You Had Me (Choking) at Affordable…
This morning, I had to control my urge to laugh while reading: Affordable Housing Canada: Housing Boom, Government Cutbacks Create ‘Rent Squeeze’ by Rachel Mendleson in HuffPost Oct 4, 2012…
Thursday Morning Links
This and that for your Thursday reading. – The CCPA’s Christopher Schenk offers up a detailed response to the Sask Party’s attacks on workers, featuring this conclusion: In a period…
Sunday Morning Links
Assorted content for your Sunday reading. – Armine Yalnizyan points to the Law Commission of Ontario’s proposals to make sure that labour laws don’t stack the deck against workers, and…
Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – pogge offers up the definitive response to the Cons’ attempt to encourage a sell-off of First Nations reserve land: When you look past…
Housing Discrimination Courtesy of Rental Diva
Rental Diva, an unlicensed rental agency in Brampton Ontario, is likely to face a human rights tribunal after turning away clients because they’re gay. Thiago Derucio and Christ Prentice called…
Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading. – Zach Carter shines a spotlight on the few types of interests who stand to gain from austerity: But the austerity game also has…
CPI Deflates Case for Rate Hike
Today’s report that the national inflation rate fell to 1.2% in May deflates calls for higher interest rates to reduce inflation. The central bank’s core rate was 1.8%, also below…
Deflating Housing Bubble Risks Recession
Seen in isolation, Finance Minister Flaherty probably did the right thing yesterday in seeking to safely deflate the housing bubble and lower the dangerous growth of household credit to a…