Canadian Journal of Urban Research

The housing assessment resource tools: Charting the course for data-driven housing in Canada

Alexandra Flynn — 2025-04-29

Lessons from the first round of mandatory housing needs reporting in British Columbia, Canada

Julia Gabriele Harten — 2025-04-29

Mirroring global trends, housing is a growing issue in urban Canada. To address the looming crisis, housing needs reports (HNRs) have recently gained traction with the promise to improve policy through data. While literature and practice have yet to coalesce around appropriate definitions and methods, the federal government is set to make HNRs national policy in 2025. In this study, we analyze a sample of 126 municipal HNRs produced by 2022 through a British Columbia mandate. Asking about the data reporting outcomes and policy lessons, we find high levels of compliance, achieved largely by relying on external consultants and private data. Lack of methodological guidance and uneven data availability particularly affect reporting on population projections and housing stock (changes). We call for capacity building and iterative evaluations to enhance the effectiveness of HNRs and increase policy alignment with the National Housing Strategy.

More than just new supply: Acquisitions for affordable housing in Canada

Martine August — 2025-04-29

Canada’s housing affordability crisis is worsening for renter households. The financialization of housing is contributing to the loss of affordable units, as financial firms buy up existing apartments and raise rents. Government solutions focus on building new supply, but housing is being lost at a faster rate. This paper explores acquisitions programs to maintain, preserve, and expand affordable rental housing. Acquisitions programs fund the purchase of private-market and its transfer into non-profit and social ownership. This approach decommodifies housing, keeps prices low, reduces displacement, and expands non-profit capacity. Canada has five existing acquisitions programs that would be strengthened by a robust federal program. Based on interviews with housing experts from across the country, we discuss challenges, potential, and best practices for a national acquisitions program.

Is municipal planning responsive to urban Indigenous housing needs? An examination of housing plans and policies in British Columbia

Maggie Low — 2025-04-29

This article presents findings from a study conducted in partnership with the Aboriginal Housing Management Association (AHMA) and explores how municipalities in British Columbia, Canada are responding to Indigenous
housing needs through Official Community Plans (OCP) and housing strategies. Using a content analysis of OCPs and housing strategies, survey responses and semi-structured interviews with municipal planners in British Columbia, this research aims to better understand the barriers municipalities perceive they face in addressing urban Indigenous housing needs. This discussion offers key considerations for municipal planners for identifying and responding to urban Indigenous housing needs in municipal level housing policies. To better address urban Indigenous housing needs, municipal housing planners must first identify Indigenous housing needs as distinct needs in urban settings. Further, municipal policies and programs aiming to respond to Indigenous housing needs must be developed through Indigenous-led and Indigenous-informed processes in order to uphold Indigenous rights. By addressing urban Indigenous housing needs, municipalities can demonstrate their commitment to action on reconciliation efforts in Canada.

Canada’s National Housing Strategy: A suitable case for Australian emulation?

Julie Lawson — 2025-04-29

This paper concerns the task of national housing strategy-making in two similarly developed federal states, Canada and Australia. Strategies help to define priorities and to provide a rationale for ongoing decision-making. Strategic thinking is the antithesis of an incremental or reactive approach. For the UN study #Housing2030 (UN 2021), strategic action on housing follows a logic which begins with causal analysis, informing the selection of relevant policies and their design, which are in turn resourced via capable implementation, and adapted following evaluation. The challenge of national housing strategy-making is substantially compounded in countries like Canada and Australia where housing powers and responsibilities are primarily accorded to state or provincial administrations rather than to federal authorities. In this paper we investigate Canada’s first-ever venture of this kind, its 2017 National Housing Strategy (NHS). A key focus is the relevance of the NHS for Australia, likewise a country with little recent history of national housing policy leadership, but with a recently elected federal government pledged to develop a formal 10-year plan. Our underlying research involved documentary analysis and interviews with Canadian housing policy stakeholders, with the current paper complementing and extending the coverage of our earlier research report (Martin et al. 2023). Constituting a form of knowledge exchange, that report informed the development of a bill to legislate Australia’s National Housing and Homelessness Plan tabled in Australia’s federal parliament in 2024.
Cet article porte sur l’élaboration d’une stratégie nationale en matière de logement dans deux États fédéraux développés de manière similaire, le Canada et l’Australie. Les stratégies aident à définir les priorités et à fournir une justification pour la prise de décision. La pensée stratégique est l’antithèse d’une approche incrémentale ou réactive.