A Nation Built on Land, Now Held Hostage by It

By Bella Balisi-Bevilacqua

Burnaby, BC, Canada, August 18, 2025 – If you haven’t been paying attention to housing lately, you must not be paying attention to anything at all. Canada is in the grip of a housing catastrophe that’s reached seismic proportions. This crisis is rapidly hollowing out the middle class, pushing homeownership out of reach for millions, and turning the dream of a stable life into a cruel joke.

This isn’t just about real estate. It’s about identity. It’s about dignity. It’s about whether Canada still stands for opportunity or whether we’ve quietly sold that promise to the highest bidder.

Canada has long prided itself on space—vast forests, sprawling cities, and the idea that there’s room for everyone. But today, that space is being hoarded. Home prices have skyrocketed to absurd levels, with average costs in major cities like Vancouver and Toronto exceeding $1 million. Renters aren’t faring much better. Monthly rents are climbing past $2,500 for one-bedroom apartments in urban cores, and even suburban areas are no longer safe havens.

The result? Young Canadians are stuck living with parents well into their 30s. Families are crammed into inadequate housing. Seniors are being priced out of the communities they helped build. And newcomers—many of whom arrive with hope and grit—are met with a wall of unaffordability that borders on hostility.

The Human Cost

Behind every statistic is a story. A single mother working two jobs who still can’t afford a basement suite. A couple with good incomes who’ve been outbid on ten homes. A retiree is forced to move hours away from their grandchildren because their neighbourhood has become unaffordable. These aren’t outliers. They’re the new normal.

And the psychological toll is mounting. Anxiety, depression, and hopelessness are rising among Canadians who feel locked out of the future. The housing crisis isn’t just economic—it’s existential. It’s eroding our sense of belonging, our faith in institutions, and our belief that hard work leads to stability.

Immigration Infrastructure

Canada’s immigration targets are ambitious—and rightly so. We need newcomers to fuel our economy and enrich our culture. But bringing in half a million people a year without scaling up housing supply is reckless. We’re setting people up to fail. We’re inviting them into a burning building and telling them to find a room. This isn’t anti-immigration sentiment. It’s a call for planning, for compassion, for realism. Immigration must be paired with infrastructure, or it becomes a source of tension rather than renewal.

What Needs to Change

We need bold, unapologetic action:

• Massive investment in non-market housing: Co-ops, social housing, and rent-controlled units must be built at scale.
• Zoning reform: Cities must allow multi-unit buildings in traditionally single-family neighbourhoods. The era of exclusionary zoning must end.
• Vacancy taxes and speculation controls: Housing should be for living, not hoarding.
• Rent caps and tenant protections: People deserve stability, not eviction notices disguised as “renovations.”
• Federal leadership: Ottawa must treat housing like the emergency it is, not a political football.

The Clock Is Ticking

Canada is at a crossroads. We can continue down this path of inequality, watching our cities become playgrounds for the rich and graveyards for the working class. Or we can reclaim the promise of this country—a place where everyone has a shot, where homes are for people, not portfolios. The housing crisis is not just the most pressing issue in Canada today. It is the defining issue of our generation. How we respond will shape the soul of this nation for decades to come. And right now, that soul is fraying. (MBB)