Imagine a City that sees housing as infrastructure. One that thinks it’s as important as water, electricity, or roads. We can have that.
Housing is infrastructure. Having a stable place to live is just as important as having access to clean water, electricity, or food. The private market builds a lot of high quality product, but they have no incentive to bring down costs. When it’s not as profitable, they can just sit the round out and wait until prices improve. This is another oligopolistic pressure that needs to be solved by increasing competition when the market fails to do so.
The Problem
The private market builds a lot of product, but it’s pricey. It’s housing for those with deep-pockets or investors looking for an AirBnB unit. Who can blame them? They’re a private company and they’re looking out for profits. It’s naive to think they would voluntarily reduce prices.
Consequently, a minor price drop now has developers delaying and cancelling projects. A lack of competition and incentive has inadvertently created a market where a few companies have all the power. Let’s fix it.
Our Solution
We’re going to establish a City-owned housing corporation to build affordable purpose-built rentals. When the industry pulls back on supply, we’ll be there to pick up the idle labour. Our solution will also be radically transparent, documenting every cost. Every hammer, every nail, every fridge and stove — itemized and visible to taxpayers.
Our plan is designed to be a sustainably-funded project, using rents to support the builds. Affordable doesn’t mean subsidized, that’s another issue we’re going to address. We’re going to stabilize rent, while providing a fair margin to cover operations. Any surpluses will fund future projects or reduce tax liabilities.
If the City is going to grow, we need to think of housing as infrastructure. Selling off our resources puts us in a worse position later, creating larger issues later. Let’s break the monopolies, lower taxes, and improve your quality of life. Who’s with us?
We’re looking forward to expanding on this plan and we hope you love it. Our Housing As Infrastructure plan is also complementary to our housing plan.
