{"id":29174,"date":"2025-02-22T01:49:26","date_gmt":"2025-02-22T09:49:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/cupe-has-thoughts-on-housing\/"},"modified":"2025-02-22T01:49:26","modified_gmt":"2025-02-22T09:49:26","slug":"cupe-has-thoughts-on-housing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/cupe-has-thoughts-on-housing\/","title":{"rendered":"CUPE Has Thoughts On Housing"},"content":{"rendered":"

[ad_1]
\n
\"-\"<\/p>\n

\n

Housing availability and affordability is at a crisis point across Canada. Our members see the toll that the housing crisis is taking on their lives and communities every day. Workers need to be able to afford a home near their place of work, and communities need frontline workers to be able to live where they\u00a0work.<\/p>\n

The rising cost of housing has driven this crisis. Home prices have far outpaced incomes across the country. In 1980, the average home cost\u00a02.5 times the average household income. Today, the average home costs 8.8 times the average income. In Toronto and Vancouver, the situation is even more dire with homes costing 13.2 and 14.4 times the average income respectively.[i]<\/sup><\/a> Rents have also increased substantially with a 7.9% increase from April 2023 to April 2024.[ii]<\/sup><\/a> The gap between the rental wage \u2014the hourly wage a worker needs to earn so that their rent will not eat up more than 30\u00a0per cent of their pre-tax income\u2014and the minimum wage is larger than it should be in every province in Canada.[iii]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Many workers, whether they rent or own their homes, are paying more than 30% of their income on housing, which puts them in core housing need. Workers from equity-seeking groups, including Indigenous, Black and racialized workers and workers with disabilities, are particularly at risk of housing\u00a0insecurity.<\/p>\n

Our members are not insulated from the broad lack of availability and affordability of homes, or rampant renovictions, or unaffordable mortgage rates. Housing is a human right that is not being upheld in\u00a0Canada.<\/p>\n

CUPE has a history of housing resolutions going back to 1969, calling for the federal government to enact a national plan for housing and make low-cost loans available (see\u00a0resolutions and strategic directions on housing in Appendix A and B). Housing is a\u00a0fundamental union issue. It is the basis of stability and security for our members. Everyone needs and deserves a safe, accessible and affordable\u00a0home.<\/p>\n

Given the current housing crisis, CUPE is strengthening and renewing its position on\u00a0housing.<\/p>\n

The Financialization of Housing is at the Root of the Housing\u00a0Crisis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Treating housing as a profit-generating commodity, rather than a guaranteed human right, is a root cause of the housing crisis. Known as the financialization of housing, the problem ranges from large corporate investors making huge profits from rental housing to a federal government that provides an inadequate public pension and treats homeownership as a key component of retirement\u00a0security.<\/p>\n

Rental accommodation has been targeted by large corporate investors including private equity firms, real estate operating companies, real estate investment trusts, asset managers, and institutional investors like pension funds. These corporations treat people\u2019s homes as an asset class from which to extract profit. They do this through displacing lower income tenants in favour of higher-income tenants through unaffordable rent increases and\u00a0renovictions.<\/p>\n

Workers\u2019 pension funds are one of the actors driving up the cost of rental accommodation. A number of pension funds have been found to engage in controversial and rights-violating efforts to displace low-income renters or sell properties to the highest bidder.[iv]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

The financialization of housing has occurred as an increasing number of homes are purchased by small-scale investors who own multiple properties. With fewer workplaces offering stable defined benefit pension plans, homeowners have come to depend on housing as a way to achieve retirement security. This has resulted in an environment where increasing housing affordability\u2014in other words, lowering house prices\u2014is seen by many homeowners in Canada as a threat to their retirement security. At the same time, others have been priced out of buying a home\u00a0altogether.<\/p>\n

Financialization is associated with increased housing costs for both renters and homeowners. Addressing the financialization of housing and increasing the supply of public, non-profit and co-operative housing are two key measures that will help bring down the cost of rental accommodation and buying a\u00a0home.<\/p>\n

The Human Right\u00a0to Housing Needs to Drive Action on\u00a0Housing<\/strong><\/p>\n

CUPE believes public funding needs to be aligned with the right to housing as recognized in international law and the National Housing Strategy\u00a0Act.<\/p>\n

The National Housing Strategy (NHS), which was adopted by the federal government in\u00a02017, has allocated over $82\u00a0billion toward housing. However, the majority of this funding has been funnelled toward for-profit housing corporations building largely unaffordable homes. Moreover, there is no consistent definition of \u201caffordable\u201d. Even CMHC uses multiple measures of affordability in its programs and publications, including 80% or less than \u201cmarket rent\u201d or less than 30% of a household\u2019s median pre-tax income.[v]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

A market-based housing system will never uphold everyone\u2019s right to housing. The federal government must intervene with a significant investment in public, non-profit and\u00a0co-operative housing that includes rent-geared to income units. Non-market housing including public, non-profit and co-operative housing have specific needs and\u00a0each has a role to play in ensuring the human right to\u00a0housing.<\/p>\n

A Workers\u2019 Plan for\u00a0Housing<\/strong><\/p>\n

In order to build a housing system that ensures CUPE members\u2014and all workers\u2014can afford safe and accessible housing in the communities where they work, CUPE takes the following\u00a0position:<\/p>\n