Housing news & insights

BC allows anyone over age 55 to defer paying municipal property taxes on their principal residence. This program may have made sense when it was created in 1973, but today, most beneficiaries are multi-millionaires. With BC facing record deficits, it's well past time for Finance Minister Bailey to change this outdated and inefficient subsidy.

Build Canada Homes embraces many of the housing affordability solutions Generation Squeeze has been championing for years. Despite these strengths, the strategy sidesteps a critical piece: what is our goal for home values?

Ottawa recently released what it describes as the “most ambitious” housing plan in over 75 years. In many ways, it delivers. But for all its ambition on building homes, the plan is silent on deeper tensions that drive unaffordability – especially the generational dynamics at its core.

Home ownership among young Canadians (under age 35) has recently surged to 44%, the highest level in five decades! 18% of them are mortgage-free. This indicates Canada may be drifting from a meritocracy toward a landed aristocracy, where access to secure housing increasingly depends on being born into the right family.

With young people facing heavy rents and oversized mortgages for the foreseeable future, compensation is overdue. Millennials and Gen Z deserve a greater share of the $1.5-trillion windfall generated by rising home values since boomers were young adults.

The Liberal election platform recognized that Canada no longer works for all generations. As Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new government appoints Ministers and sets out plans, solutions to this national challenge must be at the forefront of our efforts to protect, build, and unite Canada.

The political bargain we’ve struck in Canada obliges younger people to compromise their standard of living to protect the housing wealth accumulated by homeowners who have come before them. It’s time to acknowledge this – and to compensate young people for their profound expression of intergenerational solidarity.

New global, national and provincial commitments make 2024 a stand-out year for generational fairness. This Global Intergenerational Fairness Day, young and old Canadians alike should take pride in the progress we’ve made. Join us in marking the day on November 16.

Canada’s ‘Fairness for Every Generation’ budget is inspiring others in our global movement. Leaders from the Berkley Institute for Young Americans in California are calling on their state to look to Ottawa for inspiration.

Canada’s Gen Fairness budget is getting noticed around the world. Our colleague from the UK’s Intergenerational Foundation, Liz Emerson, took the time to share her thoughts on the promise of generational fairness at the heart of Canada’s recent federal budget