Concerns about exacerbating the country’s housing affordability crisis have resulted in a petition on Change.org addressed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Honourable Sean Fraser, minister of housing.
A volunteer group, led by Hossein Maleki, president and CEO of Satel Creative, started the petition in hopes of stopping investment companies from continuing to buy single-family homes, something of deep concern to the group.
The group says investment companies aggressively purchasing single-family homes to create rental properties further aggravate the housing affordability crisis in Canada, and that it’s trying to enact legislative measures to “address this pressing issue and safeguard the well-being of all Canadians, as well as the integrity of our housing market.”
Inspiration for the cause
Maleki tells REM that during the pandemic, his company started hiring across Canada. He explains they saw team members move to other places from Vancouver mostly because it was more affordable to live, but that’s not the case anymore.
“It’s hard to compete with our American counterparts as it is, but it’s getting harder every day,” Maleki says. “We have had a few team members taking remote jobs with American competitors, and I don’t blame them. How else can someone afford to buy anything in Canada?”
Maleki has been an activist in trying to solve climate change since 2013. He says that over the years, he’s realized that one of the best ways to battle climate change and push for adaptation is through municipalities and communities.
He ties this back to corporations investing in housing: “I believe these types of corporate investments are the opposite of community building … this type of real estate investment is bad for the Canadian real estate market and hence bad for our economy.”
The petition states:
“Investment companies, such as Toronto-based Core Development Group, are buying up vast numbers of single-family homes, intending to convert these into rental properties. This practice is the antithesis of housing availability and affordability for ordinary Canadians. The Core Development Group alone has announced plans to invest $1 billion in such acquisitions, with a recent announcement to buy an additional 10,000 single-family houses.
The commoditization of housing affects all Canadians and needs to stop. Houses should not be part of ‘portfolios’ or ‘funds’ open to unknown wealthy investors in Canada, the United States, and abroad.
Canada is at a crossroads in its approach to housing policy. While the Federal Housing Catalogue’s initiative to expedite home construction and British Columbia’s ban on most Airbnb rentals are commendable and hopeful steps, they are insufficient in the face of aggressive corporate buying of residential properties. Immediate legislative action is required to curb this trend as Canadians are suffering.
We urge you, Honourable Sean Fraser and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, to enact legislation that prohibits corporations from buying Canadian homes solely for investment purposes. Our homes should be sanctuaries for our families, not commodities for corporate profit. The time to act is now – for the well-being of all Canadians and the integrity of our housing market.”
You can view the petition here.
How it’s going so far
The group’s petition, entitled “Let’s Ban Corporations from Buying Canadian Homes as Investments”, was published on December 16 and has since garnered 1,562 signatures, as of the time of writing.
REM reached out to the Canadian Real Estate Association’s government relations team for comment but has not heard back. We will update this with any comments received.
Emma Caplan-Fisher is an editor and writer for REM. She has over a decade of experience in various content types and topics, including real estate, housing, business, tech, and home & design. Emma’s work has also been featured in Cottage Life, the Vancouver Real Estate Podcast, the Chicago Tribune, Narcity Media, Healthline, and others. She holds a Certificate in Editing from Simon Fraser University.
Totally agree, when the wealthy Reits buy up single family homes and condos they bid in cash against hard working families. Core Development buys existing family homes and turns them into expensive rentals. They DO not build affordable housing.Bay Street money has ran up housing prices and because we have housing shortages they can increased rents to an unaffordable level. They rob middle-class the opportunity to have ownership, the assets that builds wealth and should be part of their retirement planning. Housing ministers and the cabinet should look very hard at this and understand what is happening to middle class families. Many goverment officials own multiple properties themselves and there is a conflict of interest. Governments should be accountable to Canadian families and not investor lobbyists and their shareholders
What does goverment want in their end game, a country of hopeless renters and the top 1% owning it all.
Yes, we don’t want more rental housing and we certainly don’t want to allow those crummy people who rent instead of own to have the option to rent houses. They all deserve to raise their 3 kids in a one=bedroom apartment.