Marie-Josée Houle, who was appointed in February 2022 to the position under the National Housing Strategy Act, said her job is to be a “watchdog for housing and homelessness in Canada.”
A report published by her office in June 2022, titled “The Financialization of Multi-Family Rental Housing in Canada,” suggested that buildings owned by landlords who “violate human rights” should be expropriated by the federal government, as first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter.
“Canada will not be able to build our way out of this housing crisis,” Houle told the committee. “We are losing affordable housing units faster than we can build them.”
B.C. Conservative MP Tracy Gray questioned Houle, asking, “Would you agree part of the solution is we do need more building of houses in order to bring prices down?”
Houle replied that “this is not how housing works.”
“What we’re talking about, the housing crisis and the human right to housing, is those that need it the most,” she said. “Any new housing that is built, whether it’s rental or single detached homes with mortgages, will cost more than something that is already built.”
“New construction, unless it comes with subsidies, will not create the affordability that’s needed,” Houle said.
She noted that “the market needs to be regulated,” adding that “markets are not working well” and that “we have let housing be market-driven.”
Houle, the first federal housing advocate to be appointed, and paid $176,000 a year, told the committee that corporate landlords, real estate investment trusts, private equity funds, and pension fund asset managers use properties for profit.
“Every single person in Canada has the right to live in a safe, secure, affordable home that meets their needs,” she said.
“Corporate investment in housing is a serious human rights issue that must be addressed as we seek to address Canada’s housing crisis,” said Houle, adding: “The financialization is harming people in Canada and is a serious human rights issue. Curbing the financialization of housing is a key way governments can help address Canada’s housing crisis.”
Houle described her position as “independent and non-partisan. This is new territory for us all.”
The 2019 National Housing Strategy Act, which created Houle’s position, enshrined “a right to adequate housing” in federal law.
A 2019 report titled “Federal Program Spending on Housing Affordability,” authored by the Parliamentary Budget Office, said that despite enacting the National Housing Strategy Act, it “does not create any enforceable individual rights that would give rise to statutory spending nor does it bind future parliaments to commit voted spending to housing programs.”
