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Housing prices recently protested by local resident

February 17, 2022   ·   4 Comments

By Sam Odrowski

An Orangeville man wearing a large sign reading “My/our children will never afford a home here” stood in front of Dufferin–Caledon MP Kyle Seeback’s office in Orangeville for several hours on Monday (Feb. 14).

Shawn Crockatt (Jolicouer) braved the cold weather to share his message that housing prices have spun out of control, he told the Citizen $800,000 for a starter home in this region isn’t a realistic entry price for people looking to buy a home.

Seeback noted said he 100 per cent agrees and sympathizes with what Crockatt is unhappy about, and asked the Minister of Housing Ahmed Hussen during Question Period in Parliament earlier this week about the unaffordability crisis with real estate.

The response was that they’ve invested in affordable housing to help alleviate the crisis.

However, Seeback said this alone isn’t going to fix the problem.

“My message to them – and this is the Liberal government – is it’s not working,” he remarked.

Seeback said they need solutions such as freeing up federal land for housing, converting federal buildings into condos or apartments, and banning foreign ownership of housing in Canada. He also suggested a vacancy tax for people who buy houses as an investment and leave them sitting empty, as well as cracking down on real estate being used for money laundering.

“There have been multiple studies and reports that have come out to show that there’s a real problem in this country with money laundering and real estate investment,” Seeback said. “This has been going on for years and the government has done nothing.” 

With respect to housing affordability, Seeback said he’s met with many people in the riding over the issue.

“I will give you an example, a couple that has $140,000 combined income, they can qualify for a $700,000 mortgage, but the average home price in Caledon is $1.3 million,” he told the Citizen. “This is turning into a national crisis.”

Housing prices in this area have gone up 21 per cent in the last year, and went up significantly the year prior, Seeback noted.

“I am deeply concerned my children will never be able to afford a house,” he remarked. 

Going forward he said there should be a meeting between federal, provincial, and municipal governments about how to increase the supply of housing, since there’s a supply issue as well.

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