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Isn't it usually the government's fault for impeding new housing projects? The free market would have responded to the increase in housing demand rapidly without the bureaucracy. Of course, although I say free market, building codes, safety regulations, and sustainability should still be followed. But the bottleneck to more housing is usually government control/special interest groups, and not engineering challenges, which have mostly been solved.

The people that are complaining about Canada have some valid points , as do I . But in travelling to other countries you really see how the good extremely out weighs the bad . The main problem in my opinion is allowing massive Immigration without improvement of services across every aspect of living . This leads to the degradation of the quality of life . Government can't have it both ways , Get sufficient housing and services or slow immigration . It's that simple

many problems in Toronto and Canada overall is the high immigration rate hundreds of thousands being added by the Federal Government with no planning by Provincial and Local Governments... it is crazy to bring so many in and not have a real plan to deal with housing and other issues associated with living in Canada today.

Australia, same thing ,the average house out of reach unless you earn big$$$, population boost with lack of infrastructure and homes, rent sky-rocketing, even rentals are hard to get 1%vacancy in big cities. Feel sorry for the young people. Governments sold all the tax payers utilities that employed many people and keep the costs of essentials down. Many politicians sitting on big company boards after they retire. The same companies the government made rich. Going downhill, sad . Desperate times ,Desperate measures that's the road we are heading down.

Again I never heard of the solution DORMSSSSSS! Canada dont need too many small colleges, just few in strategic areas where everyone will have access. These schools, they can accept international student but!!! They should have capacity to accommodate like having a dorrrmmmmm for the school. Im mad about this bc in SKorea, where I exchage, they have dorms, here in Canada, you have to find it yourself. We also get our food in the cafeteria which is healthier and have mang options. That 2 alone are solutions itself. You have your money, you refrain us from affecting your inflation so much, we are comfortable and safe and can build better community and many new friends while studying here. The rent could also be used by the schools for scholarship to locals than the rent going to the hands of greedy real estate investors. And now the Canadians are blaming us alone for the housing market? Blame the greedy government and schools!

Your insights into the challenges facing my Canada are thought-provoking. Like any country, Canada is changingy, and addressing the very diverse concerns of its citizens future is a must. We find ourselves on a demographic cliff, a challenge documented since the baby boom in the '50s, with the repercussions felt today. The lack of prior planning is evident, and knee-jerk reactions from the government raise significant concerns for both those born here and those immigrating. \n \nAs a Canadian born and raised, I also worry about the future of my own children. The pace at which our builders are asked to construct is unrealistic. In 2023, builders were told to build 4.25 times faster than before, an impossible feat. While there may be available land for development, the shortage of builders makes the goal unattainable. In my local area, builders are working tirelessly, but the demand outpaces the supply. In Canada, for every 14 retiring construction workers there is only one to replace them. \n \nIn 2022, Canada welcomed 437,000 new permanent residents, over 604,000 temporary workers, 500,000 foreign students, and nearly 100,000 refugees, all of which significantly impact housing. More of the same in 2023, and I am sure more in 2024. Canada wants to grow its population to 100M people by 2100. We are only at 40M. Navigating the demographic cliff is an ongoing challenge, and more growing pains are expected. \n \nIt's important to acknowledge that perspectives vary based on one's region, economic status, and social context. If you reside in a rapidly growing area, your perspective might differ from those in other regions. The Canada of the past is transforming into a more multicultural future, which will help us all define our new path—whether it be in politics, economies, social issues, or regional dynamics. Your quoted figures lack context, and it's essential to consider the polls and news sources shaping your perspective on Canadians feeling Canada is 'broken.' As a Canadian, I certainly know it is changing.

Turn them all around \n.they all storming thru .no respect .I live in nz and our government took in about 70,000 Immigrants last year...which means our homeless problem gets worse for our people. Cos they get the housing first and free benefit money .drive nice cars..and what frustrates me is you should be learning that country's language and there laws n rights before you get accepted in..cos how they suppose to work if they can't under the language\nAnd how many bad people are running loose in your country with n9 money. Properly no id and can't speak the language..so now because of constant migration problems everywhere. The average hard working citizen is going to gw harder for them\nI even head one time a migrant.tsayinh to me oh the government\nNeeds to give e more monies. Not enough...very ungrateful

So a key problem here is out of control capitalism and the rising costs for everything. Schools wouldn’t be desperate for foreign money if the provincial government provided them enough money and their could\nBe more housing if resources were being allocated to that sector

I'm an immigrant and my immigrant friends and I were talking about exactly this just the other day. I'd like to add some context on why so few international students stay: they can't. Schools prey on this very fact. In international recruiting, these schools use the promise of thriving local industries and trot out graduates working locally as major draws to these expensive programs. Then once students are in Canada, many of these schools couldn't care less: they offer little or sometimes no housing support, no immigration advice (or in my case and many of my friends' cases: they give straight-up false immigration advice that can screw you over or even get you in trouble). There absolutely needs to be regulation and accountability for these predatory schools; I think a good starting point would be capping the number of visas they can apply for based on the number of housing units available (either on-campus or via local development subsidy and homestays). Tons of students come to Canada completely unprepared due to false promises made by these schools, and then get spit out into an egregiously inefficient and broken work visa system.\nMy immigrant friends and I are all highly skilled in our specific field. There are only a handful of people in the world (let alone in Canada) who can do what I do at the level I do it, so I would be incredibly difficult to replace if I left Canada. Despite that, and despite being Canadian-educated (Canadian resources invested in me that you'd want to keep in Canada), remaining in Canada has been a massive struggle for me and my friends. We individually spend hundreds and even thousands of dollars every year to apply for permits that have to be renewed annually, but take the government 6+ months to process. Because the government is so backed up, we have to apply for *extra* permits to bridge that gap (more money, and more work added to IRCC's already-long line of applications). I'm in limbo for the majority of the year where I can't switch employers, can't leave the country, etc. It's horrible. \nBut I have it better than most. Of the international students in my year, only I and one other student are still in Canada because the transition to work permits is so needlessly long and difficult. Even a graduate who does manage to get a work permit might have to sit unemployed for 6 months or more before that permit is active. How is a student supposed to survive without work for that long? In order for employers to even apply to sponsor a graduate, they often have to do a lengthy labor market impact assessment, and so these graduates are stuck in a holding pattern, and they're the lucky ones. Immigration is absolutely vital to Canada and I hate how quickly these stories turn to xenophobic rhetoric, but we have to make space in the conversation to take a look at how schools are exploiting students and policy loopholes, and why they're doing it, and address those problems. The current system isn't fair to anyone.

The most qualified and motivated are leaving, while we ramp up diploma-mills for the mediocre. The government has not invested in new housing, new infrastructure, more doctors, better on boarding for those with foreign qualifications etc. No, we just suck in huge amounts of immigrants with no real planning or investment. No wonder the best of them rapidly realize they want out. I recently met a pediatrician from Venezuela working in an Apple store, what a bloody waste!

From this issue alone, I come to understanding that Canadian government is quite reactive to situations. Aren't they supposed to foresee the housing and cost of living crisis and put the cap way before it's become the issue? I agree that there are benefits of immigration for Canada but uncontrollable migrations only makes Canada worse.

One has to assume that we have smart people behind the scenes that have been looking at this issues at length. They have either warned the government, and they ignored it, or there is something else at work. Perhaps the government KNOWS they will cause a housing crisis, and it's BY DESIGN!!! How many politicians out there own, or rent out their properties to gain income. This inflation will REALLY help their portfolio $$$. They are taking advantage of the crisis! If you spin it that way, their decisions all make sense. They do not care about Canadians at all, they only care about the already wealthy, protecting, or even gaining from the high inflation the KNEW WAS COMING. You have all been duped, and all politicians are in on it (red, blue, yellow and green!)

This liberal government is obsessed with making everything from groceries to rent to housing to gas completely unaffordable now they want to make post-secondary education for Canadians completely unaffordable as well!

⛺️ ⛺️ ⛺️ ⛺️ homeless..house shortage??????? JOBS VS HOMES..Canada needs a balance in all things. Current government clueless.Trudeau be gone.

There’s not only a housing shortage but a healthcare crisis! All fed by this ridiculous government :/

Regarding housing, I'm less worried about the 10 students sharing a single house, than the teenaged child of a foreign millionaire owning several homes. This raised bank account minimum suggests this government is still missing the point.

These government officials need to stop pretending that ALL international students are victims here. Let me be clear, yes some are, BUT, A LOT of them commit fraud to come here and other different countries. I used to think all international students were rich when I moved here, as tuition for them can be 3 to 4 times more expensive. Then I started realising how wrong I was, with so many that can't afford food, housing stc. Then I heard about the loan scam, where potential students would borrow money from essential loan sharks to prove they have the minimum amount to qualify for a student visa, get accepted then give the money back, paying back a fee of course. If this is a widely known thing, the government DEFINITELY knows about it too

The ironic thing about the government calling for more housing to be built is the fact that they're the primary culprit for why its not getting built. I was speaking recently with a developer for a large development company in Vancouver area, and he made it very clear that their government instituted fees and restrictions and unreasonable requirements have made it almost impossible for them to pursue anything but the most surefire projects. The overhead costs are just way too high. And this of course translates into housing prices. So you want to look at why housing is so expensive, especially new housing? Take a look at your local, provincial and federal governments first.

I dont understand why people keep coming to Canada i born and raised here i am always in debt i barely support my 2 kids and my wife Canadian government they take off my income almost 50% and 15 % taxes on purchases so i live with 35% of my income what the hell is that also we are living in cold weather 6 months i dont understand like here in Quebec if uou want to buy a house you pay a welcome tax whats the hell i recommend everyone if you have a stable job in your country stay in your country between your family .

Shame on current Govt that it took so long and now housing industry, price gauging and illegal basements in Garages should be fixed by local governments. I have filed numerous complaints with the City of Mayors office here in Surrey, BC but no one really cares.

Our government is so incompetent and only reactive. Never proactive and no insight. International students may impact housing shortage but not the other infrastructures (or at a minimal level) like Healthcare, roads/traffic, violent crimes, community services (homeless, drugs,etc), etc. They do not create slums and ghettos. They probably have the lowest rate of criminal records as well. You don't even need exhaustive data analysis for this, just freaking common sense.

At some point, we need to say no more we are full because we can’t even take care of our own citizens. Our healthcare system is overstrained, and the government cuts the budget. Our education system is horrible and the government cuts the budget instead of excepting more immigrant students, and more people that we have to support taxpayer money. Because these immigrants are not rich, you’re not coming over here with a bunch of money most of them are given accommodating housing that born citizen don’t even get for seven years. If I wanna get on the rent to geard income house have to wait 7 to 10 years, but if I was born somewhere else, they would just give it to me as soon as I get here so maybe instead of focussing on immigrants, let’s focus on people who are born in this country by, I don’t know stop cutting medical and education spending

This government does not build enough housing yet brings in immigrants by the hundreds of thousands and we got to pay for it with super high rent it's Criminal

International students are helping the economy overall. Housing should be addressed so the solution to regulate the entry of new students in the next three yeara must be considered while the government is fixing the housing concern.

When the government fails in its responsibility, they seek someone to blame. International students are paying tuition fees 10 times higher than home students, yet the blame is unfairly shifted onto them for causing the housing crisis. Students are merely being used as an excuse by a failing government. Schools and government officials need to take responsibility instead of misleading the public.

Whoevers getting parts of those billions of dollars better be spending it like water so it feeds into the other working canadians and canadian businesses. my two cents.\nand someone remind me..who owns these homes are being built? Are they government ones? Are the schools planning to build more 'residences' -mandate it per school population? And....anything to stop international investors? Though i think the cost of internationals is way too high - it should INCLUDE housing and food at that point.

It's all good when you're a greedy landlord collecting rent, or a crooked private college collecting thousands of dollars. These are young kids who are being exploited by our country. On the other end of the spectrum, you have single occupancy residents living in multi-million dollar mansions with no declared income. We need targeted immigration strategy isolated to each province. We need provincial and municipal governments to start building affordable public housing again as they did in decades past. Expecting private developers to build housing is ridiculous. I am a son of immigrants, i am Canadian, I have a great job but I live in Vancouver. The average house in my neighbourhood is 1.7 million dollars. I think that is criminal.

Yes , it has to stop. because the is no housing for them here . and also this students are doin a business .like they will buy a house here with the help of some family where they come from. and then they will recruite or bring thier parents here or relatives . why on earth this students can buy a property while they are only on students visa. they do not pay any tax . am talking with my experienced after when after learning that the buyer of my house was a students. it was so disgusted. my Question is why this government allowing this to happened. and now I can not get an affordable place to buy or to rent. not even in a independent senior living . what a SHAME .

The government of BC is taking action by requiring TOD at its transit centres. Why not the rest of the provinces? In Calgary alone, we could house at least 250,000 more people if every station had TOD. It's more sustainable growth, and accrues new transit riders and vibrancy instead of the decay and antisocial behaviour we saw during the pandemic. It could break ground tomorrow in Calgary if it were pursued...with all of their vast parking lots that do little more than waste land.

I was a student I had Indian roommates who hardly spoke English. I don't blame them because they want a better life. Who I do blame is governments who create suffering for both Canadians and individuals who come here thinking they will have a better life. End the madness, it's ruining our once well respected academic organizations.The answer is yes. Canadians can't find work, housing and our ERs are flooded. I'm pro immigration but buying c is insane and needs to be stopped. When itizenships through both degrees and diplomas

CBC very pro-Trudeau government media. According to this video, blame is on provincial governments for housing and students crisis. Federal government working on solutions “sources tell” ?

it shouldn't even be a question. we are accepting way too many. it would not be a problem if we spent the last decade or two focusing on improving health care, expanding transportation and infrastructure, attracting jobs, building homes and so on. unfortunately we didn't do that sufficiently. we haven't even started to see the implications of this yet. in 5-10 years time the situation for everyone is going to be more dire than it has been in the last 1-2 years. we are in for very rough times all because we have an addiction to electing utterly useless governments no matter which side of the ideological aisle they sit on. if you think there's a lack of housing, not enough doctors, overcrowded transit systems etc now, it'll be a shock in years time. even if we started to improve these things now, it is not going to keep up to the demand

Let's see: Canadian landlords are out of control, completely unleashed by governmental regulation, renovicting and jacking rents to insane levels, people can't afford what little existing housing there is, and our government insists on adding a million people a year to the population, with no good-paying jobs available for Canadians, never mind the imports.\n\nStart voting left, people, because in case it hasn't become blatantly obvious yet, the Liberals nor the Conservatives are not looking out for you. This is clearly an attempt to break the middle class and create a new serf class.

Do not forget who made a big car crash accident and killed our hocky boys not long ago, and other car accidents made by those illegal workers! The government is the responsible party for receiving them in our country, not because of short of house.

Now we're going to have a bunch of homless students, WE HAVE A HOUSING CRISIS! I live in a 1 bedroom apartment. I let a friend stay on my couch until he found a place. Although he had all the money needed, he could not find an apartment. It took almost 10 months to get my home back.. Any government party that would that would have a political goal of BUILDING APARTMENT COMPLEXES would win the election. Not a universal income!

We have not enough jobs for Canadians, not enough housing, and the government let more in?

The reliance on tuition dollars to cover basic operational costs is an inevitable result of decades of government austerity policies that have systematically gutted the post-secondary and other public sectors. The disparity between domestic and international tuition costs followed, a disparity that has been gradually increasing as universities find themselves in increasingly desperate financial situations - with limited sources of revenue. If direct government payments were increased to pre-1990 levels (and I would be willing to bet that most Canadians would approve of their tax dollars supporting education and training programs for Canadians), it would allow universities and colleges to manage their finances without disproportionate reliance on tuition - in particular international tuition. Bottom line - resuming adequate and equitable funding for post-secondary education must be front of mind while discussing the implications of lack of housing for international students. The point about cuts to public funding is underplayed and not well-contextualized in this CBC analysis - which just barrels on to band-aid fixes (like capping numbers or building more housing). The funding model itself needs to be fixed. Let's change the model from provincial to a provincial/federal hybrid funding model. And while we're at it, let's revise the funding model for healthcare. Why not do a sequel segment on that.

To be honest I an frastrated with Trudeu Government, as a Canadian our jobs have been given to these international students, they are being used as cheap labour by big companies, resulting in Canadians losing their jobs, which is not fair. Housing is so expensive because of the international students.

Immigrant here. Way too many students brought in, in a short span of time. Exploited by the government, colleges and greedy landlords. The impact on middle class nieghbourhoods has been horrible, so many more cars, 12 people in a house, coming and going at all hours, reckless driving - NOT wanting to integrate or learn English even. The impact on cities is a huge unmeasured burden to the infrastructure: garbage, parking, roadways, demands on healthcare, insurance premiums etc…. What a complete mess Trudeau has done. Criminally incompetent.

I came to Canada 4 years ago as an International Student and now have been working for 2 years. We as international student spent almost all our fortune to study in Canada and work for Canadian companies after graduation. A lot of my engineering majors are also working for government project to build more houses. Therefore, if people are working together on this, Canada could even thrive more given we are the second largest country in the world.

The Trudeau government massively messed this up. Trudeau and his naive idealism without any downstream planning or collaborating with the Provinces and major Municipalities. Massive increase in immigration, and more significantly massive influx of refugees and temporary workers are all Federal responsibilities. The Trudeau government is using foreign students influx as a fault, because it deflects the issue of the lack of housing on students. Wagging the dog will not solve this problem.

The federal government's goal is to attract immigrants who have the capital, income earning potential (skills), and desire to be comfortable in Canada. It's clearly not easy to settle here. My great grandparents had to build not only their house but their whole town (its community, services, systems), and I doubt it's easier for immigrants today. It's probably even harder, psychologically, because immigrants now are surrounded by others who've already settled. Immigrating to a country with a lower cost of living is probably easier, but Canada's peace, multiculturalism, nature, and growth policies are quite attractive. (I've lived elsewhere, so I can compare.)

The infrastructure across Canada is not in place to handle a large influx of population. The health care and education systems and housing across the country are underfunded and the federal gov. which rakes in 86% of tax revenues is not giving the provinces their fair share and expects them to keep the infrastructure functioning effectively anyway. The universities are using international students to make up the deficit caused by the lack of funding and help form the federal government. In the process the Canadian students are being shafted because they pay less tuition even though their parents are still paying for most of the upkeep of the institutions of higher learning.

The answer is yes. Those students know that it is a ticket to stay. A foot in the door. They are a strain on government services, housing, food banks and most come here without proper resources that is one of the requirements for entry. Even if they pay more it shouldn't take spaces that Canadian should be entitled to. They take jobs that belong to Canadians, housings that belong to Canadians. In london ontario close to 12 thousand international students take up the affordable housing for people of london. This causes so much distress on the low income people try to find a place .Then greed of developers and landlords causes the rents to go up so much that those on fixed incomes can't afford there rents and rent evictions happen as landlord look to cash in . Time to stop this madness. Local government in london has done little to stop this issue either.

Immigration (especially the student visa back door) has become a lucrative business for a few people (colleges, ESL schools, universities, construction companies, realtors, etc) without thinking about the impact on all the most basic needs for Canadians. There have been record numbers of immigrants, but where are the record numbers in new housing, new hospitals, new nurses, new doctors, etc? Obviously, this is a good business for construction companies and realtors because they can maintain high prices forever and keep making money on the Canadian dream. It is time for the Canadian government, whether liberal or conservative, to stop this nonsense until the coverage of the basic needs of Canadians are covered.

Have a look at what our government is doing. When the academic performance of our own students are bad, instead of investing in education which is the correct approach, we just handing out more study permits to international students and leave average Canadians with a housing crisis

let me set the record straight here. International students pay four to fivefold as much tuition as locals do, and injects billiions of dollars into the Canadian economy. They have long become a cash cow in the eyes of canadian institutions and nobody ever voices support for 'em not even once. How sick and ungrateful was that? And now they're held accountable for, idk, housing crisis? For god's sake, why the heck nobody criticise the government's refugee-taking spree? Under Trudeau's ruling, Canada has imported way more refugees than any other nation from the middle of nowhere. At least international students has made siginificant economic contribution to the country. But what have those refugees done to the country except draining your resources? I mean c'mon fellas, do your fact checking and soul searching and don't lay blames on international students blindly, they deserves credits wherever credits are due.

Stop capping our resource sectors so much , start ramping up the procurement and processing of those resources . Our processes are way more eco friendly than the other main international providers . It would help drastically reduce emissions from non eco friendly sources while providing our economy with the huge boom it needs to upgrade our housing production and infrastructure. Look at the real stats on our worldwide emissions... Canadas emissions are a tiny blip of the worldwide emissions ... our government acts like we're this massive air pollutant scourge and we just aren't. We can go net zero pretty fast of we stop stepping all over our energy and resource sectors ... then immigration would be supportable ...

I am not against international students coming here. Actually its good that young people wanna come here. However is it fair to ask if the government allows almost 1 million people to come, is it fair to ask the government to also at least build 500k new housing and all the support related to that like roads, hospitals, police stations, etc. if not then dont invite people over so they can fight each other for space to be able living here. That is just disrespectful!!!!

I work for the BC provincial government, and part of my job is to hunt for homes to house women who are escaping violence. After spending 3 months searching for homes in Surrey, I've seen anywhere between 10-22 individuals living in a modest sized home. These homes are often very well run-down, have poor plumbing, and many illegal suites, and I've literally seen people sleeping in closets. Landlords can get away with this because the students from India don't care, don't have a choice, or are used to this standard. What the federal government is doing is unbelievable, allowing many people into the country. Just because international students come from places where they can sleep on top of each other doesn't mean they should allow it to happen here, reducing the living standards for everyday tax-paying Canadians. Despicable.