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Housing as an investment tool — reviewing the effects on housing prices

The National Housing Council, which refers to reports commissioned by The Federal Housing Advocate adds "The financialization of purpose-built rental housing has been linked to a range of negative impacts for renters, such as evictions, rising rents and reduced building services and maintenance." Image: ACORN Canada.
Dan Kellar - CKMS - Kitchener • ON | 20-11-2023
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As the problem of housing affordability continues to grow, community and advocacy groups continue to analyze the problem to come up with solutions. On Oct 30th, ACORN, the grassroots social and economic justice organization with chapters across the country, delivered over 400 tenant testimonials to federal Liberal MPs including Waterloo's Bardish Chagger, and Acorn's National Housing Spokesperson Tanya Burkart.

Bukart's testimony highlighted the effects on renters created by the stress of living in a precarious housing market, which has been transformed over the past decades, into an investment industry with profit seeking constantly driving up housing and rental prices. 

CKMS News sat down with  local housing advocates to talk about housing affordability in the Kitchener Waterloo Region.  Featured in this program are  Acer Bonaparte, the chair of the Waterloo Region chapter of ACORN; Mike Morrice, the Green Party MP for Kitchener Centre, who has been pressuring the government over the ongoing crisis in the affordability of housing in Canada since being elected in 2021; and Geordie Dent of The Federation of Metro Tenants' Associations (FMTA), which advocates for better rights for tenants.

One of the terms that is frequently discussed when discussing housing affordability is "financialization". The definition of financialization, according to National Housing Council  is "the growing dominance of financial actors in the housing sector, which is transforming the main function of housing from a place to live into a financial asset and a tool for investor profits."  The definition continues "These may include asset management companies, hedge funds, pension funds, private equity funds, real estate investment trusts (REITs), real estate operating companies and sovereign wealth funds."

The  discussions with CKMS focuses on the financialization of the housing market, immediate steps which could be taken to start addressing the affordability crisis, and the longer term role of government in creating and maintaining an affordable and quality housing supply to meet the needs of growing populations.

Listen to the program below:

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