Canada is facing a housing crisis. Can it take a page from Europe?

Slavika Salihovich’s family was growing. So he did what anyone living in Vienna will do: he asked the city for a big apartment.

“At that time, I was pregnant with my first child,” she said. “I lived in a two-room apartment … it was a fine building, but it was small for us.”

Saliahgowowe went to an online portal, entered his income and requirements, and ranked with thousands of other residents. Soon, he was assigned a new apartment: A three-bedroom unit in a brand-new building, adjacent to the Central Station in Vienna.

It is for life – she can pass it to her children as well, if she wants.

“I like it. It’s in the middle of Vienna,” she said. “A lot of young families have gone at the same time … there is a large campus here with a kindergarten and primary school. There is a dance classes, and a boulder bar, and a huge park.”

Saliahgoov was not desperate to find housing. He and his partner earned the middle class income. But in recent years, Vienna has become famous among housing experts for her model of social housing, providing over half of the city’s two million inhabitants units.

And the fare from those units helps € 400 million ($ 626 million) in annual new construction, which is manufactured or renewed by more than 12,000 units every year, City,

While Europe struggles with the same trends as Canada Rising fare and house prices skyrocketedExperts say that social housing models such as Austria are among the best defense against growing power crisis – and are begging governments to continue investing aggressively in such programs.

Can anything ever come to Canada? It may seem distant penny, but housing experts across Europe say that it is possible for some relatively simple interventions.

Housing without profit

Staying around the corner from Saliahgowov, is an architect and housing project leader Amila Sirbegovich for the city of Vienna. He was the owner of an apartment, but opted to sell back to social residence and go back, where she says that her unit is more modern and huge.

The story of Sirbegovic is another example of distinguishing European social housing: a generous eligibility criteria.

Broadly three-fourths fall under the Austrian income range, which means that many middle class families can also get gear-to-in-incredculum housing,-with a proper 25 percent of the fare of a proper 25 percent of the fare.

“This is the most common thing in Vienna,” said Salihegowov.

Various mixtures of tenants mean that very little stigma is connected to subsidized housing; It also keeps the neighborhood diverse and ensures that urban housing is available to important workers such as nurses, sanitation workers and bus drivers.

“You have different groups and different backgrounds living in the same neighborhood,” said a policy expert Graild Kossal with Austria’s Federation of Limited-Profit Housing Association.

“It is not seen … a temporary housing solution.”

The organization of Kössl represents groups providing all this low-cost housing-non-profit or “limited profit” companies that are essential by Austrian law, but 3.5 percent of their profits.

The result is a “virtuous cycle” of community investment, Samara Jones said, Housing First Europe experts.

The money that goes otherwise to shareholders is put back in high quality and cheap homes and neighborhood-which, in turn, is “one”, “Price of value“On the broad market, Kössl said.

Austria is not alone in using this model. Throughout Europe, governments manage a part of their subsidized accommodation stock through large, privately managed non-profiting institutions.

In the Netherlands, there are less than 300 non-profit organizations across the country-but it does not lead to consolidation You may get the problem Large, profit-oriented real estate investment trust in Canada.

On average, it is better than renting on the private market, Zeno Vinkals, director of the Dutch Tenants Union, said, who talks with the government to set a fare limit across the country.

Comparatively, most private zamindars are “amateurs”, he said.

“It is not necessary that there should be negative. There are many people who make great cakes, but, in general, when you want a cake, you go to a bakery.”

Disturbed place

Of course, these non-profitables cannot run alone-they will not be cheap for a long time.

In places like affordable housing building boom FinlandThe Netherlands and Austria have always been operated by adequate government investment. And all over Europe, governments have prepared clever ways to cut cost.

One of the largest is to acquire land aggressively for cities such as Vienna and Amsterdam, when it comes to sale, through the “right-to-bye” policies that give them first debts.

As the owner of the land, the municipalities need to keep the housing in major areas cheaper for a century or more, as is contrary to 20 to 30 years. Often specific in Canada,

Land remains expensive to buy municipalities. But in some places, like the Netherlands, governments have empowered themselves to cut the cost of connecting the cost of connecting additional services such as their procurement price, roads and water, which is shaving millions to millions at the cost of land for housing.

The government’s purchase is matched with sufficient, long-term, low-onion loans for non-profit construction and managing the stock of affordable housing.

Those investment help keep them accountable – enough to invest in more buildings, stable, an affordable housing provider in Spain, Natalia Martinez, an expert at Fundasio Habitat 3, said.

It is an idea that Canada appears entertaining; Housing, infrastructure and community Canada launched A call for proposals Last month itself, on a “Rental Protection Fund”, was to help acquire and maintain affordable fare units aimed at helping non-profit and other partners.

“Many communities do not have a revenue source to influence the housing supply from their own pocketbooks,” Adrian Dingle said, the director of the housing development to increase the roof Canada, a non-profit non-profit.

Big thinking

In this way to comprehensize the definition of affordable housing-and it can have a major impact in supporting with low-to-onion debt-a major impact in canada, say by experts.

“I am confident that we are in an expectation time when it comes to the federal housing policy,” Dingle said.

But when it comes to increasing strength quickly, the same experts are united in saying that more interventionist measures may be necessary-such as fare control, property wind-gra-grains and standing fees for other properties.

They can be controversial for something, but they can be effective.

In the Netherlands, cheap rental act Established a compulsory formula To calculate the rent, which placed a cap at some levels of housing, reduced the average cost to 50 percent or more.

Throughout the night, the speculation of real estate slowed down and house prices fell.

Like Austria, the Netherlands also managed to allocate the high percentage of any new development to affordable housing – “at least 30 percent,” said the partner Theo Stotener, a partner with developer consultancy stand quadrat. This applies not only in cities, but in suburbs, where single-family houses make a large percentage of social housing.

Experts suspect that Canadian governments will make similar tricks. Statistics show that Canada is well behind – only 3.5 percent of Canadian housing is social housing, Compared to an average of eight percent throughout EuropeAnd Close to 30 percent In places like Austria and Netherlands.

“I am not sure that there is a long -term plan, or political will,” said Chelden Palelet, Executive Director to enhance the roof Canada.

But no work has been done anywhere waiting for anyone else to solve the problem.

“We have been waiting for the private sector to come and fill this difference for a long time – and it’s not,” Jones said. “Surely, a lesson for Canada is: don’t wait.”

For lucky vinys, like Cybegoov, which can easily find an affordable apartment, the first step is a change in mindset. “You really need to believe in social housing,” he said.

Martinez keeps it in another way.

“We are ready to consider housing a right that is there with health care or education or our pension schemes?” He asked. “Once we do this, we see the government responsible for making those conditions.”