Canada's housing market has frayed our social fabric.

The opinion argues that Canada's market-based housing system has contributed to rising homelessness and social divisions, and it calls for renewed public investment in non-profit and mixed-income housing models.

The opinion piece argues that Canada's market-based housing system has become adversarial and has eroded social ties. It links rising prices, particularly during the pandemic, to increases in homelessness and the use of public spaces as refuges. The author notes recent declines in condo values in Vancouver and Toronto and the financial strain that has affected many small owners and investors. The piece reviews a period of substantial public investment in non-profit housing in the 1970s and 1980s and says that era produced much of the affordable housing still available today. Key points: - The article describes the housing system as adversarial, producing winners and losers and increasing social and economic divisions. - It reports that homelessness and visible encampments have risen and that some public facilities have become places of refuge. - The article notes recent condo value declines in Vancouver and Toronto and the financial impacts on small owners. - It cites a Parliamentary Budget Officer finding that the 1970s–1980s expansion of non-profit housing created about 87 percent of the affordable stock remaining in 2023, and it notes housing co-operatives house roughly a quarter-million people. Summary: The author argues that leaving housing primarily to market forces has strained community cohesion and failed to deliver broadly affordable homes. The piece advocates reviving and expanding non-profit, mixed-income, and community-based housing models as a route to more stable and connected neighbourhoods. Whether political leaders will enact those changes is undetermined at this time.