The scale of Canada’s housing crisis cannot be met by conventional market-driven approaches of private development and piecemeal incentives. What is needed is a government-led approach that treats housing as essential infrastructure:
- Built on public land;
- Financed through low-cost public capital;
- Non-profit developed and operated; and
- Retained as a long-term public asset.
Surplus or underused public lands, including military bases, offer immediate opportunities to build affordable housing at scale while driving industrial innovation.
Grounding this effort in a human rights framework would ensure that the needs of people with very low incomes and those experiencing homelessness are at the centre of the response. Maytree’s proposals would see tens of thousands of deeply affordable homes built annually, restoring housing to its rightful place as a cornerstone of Canada’s social infrastructure.
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