The housing crisis has emerged as one of Canada’s most prominent issues in the 21st century, with Canadians young and old trying to navigate astronomical prices and a shrinking market.
While some struggle to pay their rent each month, others are having a difficult time making their mortgage payments. In the fourth quarter of 2023, the mortgage delinquency rate in Ontario was up 135.2 per cent compared to a year earlier, while B.C. residents’ rate of missing their mortgage payments rose 62.2 per cent.
Some homeowners, like Kitchener, Ont., resident Gerry Best, have reached a point where they would rather sell their home than deal with mortgage payments increasing, in his case, by as much as $2,000.
And earlier this month, a Nanos Research survey found that housing, and concerns over the cost, is quickly overtaking jobs, the economy and the environment as the issue of top national concern.
“Many Canadians, especially young Canadians, feel …