STAGGERING CRISIS: ‘SOLVABLE’ — In four days, federal Cabinet ministers huddle in P.E.I. with an eye to their fall agenda. Ministers eager to get a head start on strategizing on how to deal with one of Canada’s major economic woes could do worse than by brushing up on a Big Deal report that charts a path for Canada out of its rental-housing crisis. Co-author MIKE MOFFATT has been busy doing the media rounds pitching a new housing accord. The founding director of the PLACE Centre at the Smart Prosperity Institute tells Playbook the country’s affordability problem is a giant hole decades in the making that’s going to be a huge climb to get out of. “But there are solutions,” he said. “There is a pathway out and this is a solvable problem.” His recipe calls for federal leadership. And two million purpose-built rental units in seven years. The solution would go right to the heart of how the whole housing problem started, by tackling the lack of coordination among different levels of government. Ottawa’s first job should be to convene every key stakeholder, he said. The necessary ingredient for it to work: Political will. A missing ingredient, until recently. — What’s changed: Recent polling has shown concerns about issues around housing affordability and availability rising. Multiple levels of government have faced pressure and blowback over housing issues. Just flip through the headlines. JUSTIN TRUDEAU’s comments on jurisdiction. DOUG FORD’s sudden Greenbelt scandal. “We've just had created for us the conditions for bold action, which might not have existed a year or two ago,” Moffatt said. “Or even two months ago.” Get it right and the prescription could slay the whole debate over which jurisdiction housing falls under, since every order of government has a set of policy tools that applies. — Obstacles: Money. And ANITA ANAND’s recent marching orders as Treasury Board President to cut C$15 billion. The other big hurdle: Actually delivering. — Winners and losers: If anyone tells you housing is always a zero-sum game with first-time homebuyers and renters on one side and homeowners on the other, Moffatt said that just shows a lack of creativity. For example, there are seniors in large, single-detached homes in the suburban 905 looking to downsize, cash out their property and pick up some extra retirement savings while not leaving their neighborhood behind. They need more housing in existing neighborhoods — and that would also help first-time homebuyers. — Crisis timeline: The broader housing problem will span multiple election cycles. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says Canada needs 5.8 million homes by the end of 2030 to restore affordability. “That’s a big, hairy, audacious goal,” Moffatt said. “With a wartime-like effort, it is achievable.” — Pressure is firm: Wednesday’s CMHC stats, showing 254,966 unit starts in July, perked up ears all over the political spectrum. The Conservatives shot out a release that said the numbers show the pace is too slow for the Liberal government to “come anywhere close” to the 5.8-million-home target. — Ominous warning: According to mortgage broker RON BUTLER, the crisis could get even worse if there are fewer starts over the coming years because interest rates are running high. “Every time you hear a politician tell you about building more homes or see them point at shiny new programs like ‘The Housing Accelerator Fund’, understand this: Politicians don't build houses,”he posted on social media. — On the table: Old ideas. Housing Minister Sean Fraser was asked if the Liberals might revive CMHC’s former mandate to build homes, dating back to the post-war era. “The freshly minted housing minister said that was among the ‘conversations’ happening right now in the government,”writes Global News reporter CRAIG LORD. — Other troubling signs: According to Environics pollster ANDREW PARKIN,concerns about household debt are rising — and have reached much higher than they were in the early aughts. “Concern about debt is rising among people who otherwise should be feeling quite secure,” he Substacked this week. “That’s hardly a good backdrop for an election campaign.” | 
