To: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, BC Premier John Horgan, and Ontario Premier Doug Ford
The issue: International and institutional speculators are circling like vultures ready to swoop in and soak up properties in Canada once the real estate market hits rock bottom due to the economic downturn brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Canadian citizens – especially working class families including recent immigrants – are already struggling to stay afloat as the tsunami of unregulated global capital sweeps through Canada’s largest cities leaving a trail of unaffordability in its wake. If we do nothing, housing in Canadian cities such as Vancouver and Toronto will become further commodified as hedge funds turn homes into profit centres. This is what happened in the United States in the aftermath of the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis, and history will repeat itself if we fail to act.
The solution: Canada needs to recognize housing as a human right and ban corporate and foreign ownership of residential real estate in Canada’s major metropolitan areas. We, the undersigned, call on the federal and provincial governments to:
- Introduce legislation making only Canadian tax paying individuals eligible to buy homes in major Canadian cities such as Vancouver and Toronto. Exemptions may be granted to long-term multifamily rental housing providers with domestic tax history with Canada Revenue Agency who have not engaged in predatory evictions and rent increases.
- Triple the current anti-speculation taxes such as the Foreign Buyer Tax, Speculation and Vacancy Tax and the Empty Homes Tax
- Significantly increase the penalties for operating illegal short-term rental accommodation and make platforms such as Airbnb liable for the actions of hosts on such platforms
Allowing foreign speculators and satellite families to purchase homes in Canada forces local, tax paying residents to compete with untaxed foreign money of dubious origin, pushing prices out of the reach of local incomes. Many countries – including China – do not allow foreign nationals to purchase property. Rightly so. It is time Canada (and the provinces) said NO to foreign money and focus on the needs of Canadians. Housing should NOT be treated as a commodity. Please act now.
Even a 10 year moratorium on foreign buying would be a huge help at this point.
I know many Canadians that cannot afford a home in their country of birth, their solution is not to move outside the cities, but to leave the country entirely. I will eventually be one of these Canadians too.
What are we being replaced with? Empty homes, satellite families and foreign investors.
This has got to stop.
It is a disgrace that our governments ( both provincial and federal) have failed to protect their citizens.
The average young person in metro Vancouver, Toronto cannot hope to ever own any home of any kind . When new more affordable housing is planned ( condos and townhouses) they are purchased from off shore ( China) before any of our local people have the opportunity to purchase . Worse is that they are left empty !
Have a look in subdivisions, townhouse complexes and especially condos !
No one is living there ! No one is contributing to the neighborhood or the economy !
Foreign capital is destroying housing affordability whether owned or rented in Canada. An economy based on the prostitution of real estate to offshore investors is to kick your own citizens in the teeth, to rob them of their dreams, and to render pointless their hard work and contributions to their own country. We must as a sovereign nation take what ever steps are necessary to stop those who would seem intent on turning Canada into a banana republic.
Do not sell Canada … not farms, industries, housing, transport , National treasures, resources. Give us room to grow. If you can’t sell it for increased value by processing at home… don’t be so lazy… think again!…
All domestic lands, products, resources should be subject to value-added at home. we should not sell our farming outlets or housing outlets or resources in general. If any member of any political component should recommend otherwise, their finances should be scrutinized. We do not need lobby’s to determine our future. We need good governance!
I am not sure why anyone would have a problem with foreign investment. It has really helped our economy as we have people coming in from abroad to invest in the property.
Can not rely on the federal government to take measures as they rely to heavily on lobbyists to fund their campaigns. Bringing awareness to the public of what’s happening and the long term effects to Canadians is needed. Perhaps its time for government to head the building homes instead of the private sector that profits, control the market and fund city elections. Canadian Real Estate Association needs to be regulated especially how they report their numbers.
I’m actually sickened as my wife and I both earn a higher than average wage and we still cannot afford a home.. It literally seems like the market in my city (Windsor) has quadrupled in price over just 3 or 4 years. I believe it is investors from Toronto that’re buying them all up. Their average income is twice ours, and our homes used to cost accordingly. It’s impossible for young people to make it as our mayor continues to hoe our real estate off to out of town investors. The responsible thing to do would be creating a tax, or outlawing buying real estate here unless you’re actually going to make it your permanent residence. I know this isn’t quite the same thing, but you know this situation is very closely linked to the core problem.
Not enough to mitigate housing crisis created by Fed gov’t inflationary policies, BOC artificially low interest rates and mass immigration. Add to your list; Cut immigration numbers by 90% including foreign workers & students, cut government debt, deficit, raise interest rates above the understated CPI lie, Ban all AirBNB, triple mill rate on all single family homes used as rental properties, restrict ownership of SFH to 3 per family with ban on trust purchases of SFH, ban on all corp and foreign entities ownership of SFH, increase capital gains tax inclusion rate from 50% to 100% taxable for all SFH (houses and condo units) investment properties with exemption for 1 cottage per family to keep at current 50% inclusion rate.