Things have gotten so bad that I'm willing to vote for whoever takes the most significant measures to make housing affordable. Here's a half-baked assortment of the sort of policies that would either increase supply or reduce demand:
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Allow mixed-use medium-density housing in areas that now allow only single-family homes. Allow mixed-use high-density housing to be built in proximity to subway, train, bus stations.
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Reduce the taxes and paperwork required to (re)build a home.
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Pay several architecture firms to design a variety of housing and offer those projects free of charge to the public. A la "Vancouver Special".
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Use public land to build social housing below market rates
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Municipalities buying old apartment buildings and renting them out below current market rates
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Maintain a central registry of who owns what housing and who lives there (necessary for the policies below). This can be used to audit abuses
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Raise property taxes on vacant housing
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Introduce a new yearly anti-speculation tax that depends on the owner of the unit:
- Canadian citizens: 0%.
- Permanent residents and people with work permits: 0%.
- Companies established in Canada:
- Single-family dwelling: 5%.
- Dwelling between two and 6 units: 2%
- Housing with more units: 0%
- All other assumptions: 10% <-- this includes foreign investors
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Halve immigration targets until housing crisis is over
Edit: 10. Eliminate parking minimums. Let business decide how much parking they need.