Let’s normalize renting – Canada’s obsession with homeownership hurts the economy
Along with the certainty of death and taxes, a growing number of Canadians are pencilling in a third fate: renting. In the post-Great Recession years that have framed my adulthood, home ownership has shifted from an inevitable milestone my peers and I took for granted to an opportunity stretching further from our grasp.
By not only normalizing but embracing renting we can redefine what it means to live in Canada. This alone won’t solve housing gaps and spur necessary construction, but shifting public sentiment can offer an impetus for that necessary journey. More importantly, we can unlock economic gains that are currently sidelined.
On a larger scale, changing our perspective on renting can have economic effects far beyond individuals and families. Researchers Chang-Tai Hsieh and Enrico Moretti estimate that between 1964 and 2009, U.S. GDP could have been 13.5-per-cent higher if not for “increased constraints to housing supply in high productivity cities.”
Companies prize this too. When Toronto bid for the 50,000-employee Amazon HQ2 – the second headquarters of the e-commerce giant – housing availability was seen as one of its biggest deficiencies by critics and boosters alike. Then-mayor John Tory told the media as much, recalling that in a meeting with Silicon Valley businesspeople, the first questions he was asked were about housing supply.
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