Decommodification Now: Planning for a decommodified housing future

Abstract

Canada is experiencing a housing affordability crisis. Rising housing costs in cities over the last two decades have driven increasing gentrification and displacement, forcing lower-income residents into inadequate and unaffordable housing, or out of cities altogether. The COVID-19 pandemic has only worsened this phenomenon, as evictions, homelessness, and number of households in core housing have risen sharply over the past year. These interlocking issues are underpinned by a single idea: that housing is a commodity. This notion holds that housing is both a store of value, and a necessity. This tension is usually resolved in favour of building housing that can generate maximal capital for its investors, as opposed to housing that serves community need. This creates the conditions leading to nationally increasing core housing need. A reorientation of housing planning and policy around the idea that housing is a necessity outside of the drive for profit is required. One promising avenue for this revisioning is decommodification. This project seeks to answer (1) how decommodified housing has existed in Canada in the past, (2) what kinds of decommodified housing exist, and are currently being produced in peer nations, and (3) what are the existing barriers and opportunities to greatly expand the stock of decommodified housing in Canada.