Meanwhile in Canada, freshly-minted PM Mark Carney has announced that, if re-elected in the nation’s snap April 28 poll, his Liberal Party government will solve the housing crisis by (gasp) getting the government to build a lot more affordable homes.

“We’re getting government back in the business of building affordable homes. Acting as a developer, […] Build Canada Homes will work with industry to build affordable homes at scale including on public lands.

Under Carney’s plan, the government would create Build Canada Homes, a new housing development corporation, to directly construct new housing projects. 

The Canadian Liberals’ plan also includes significant new support for prefabricated housing manufacturers, with Carney arguing for the economically and environmental benefits of prefab housing:

“The way we build homes needs to change. Prefabricated and modular housing will play a big role in the future they can drive down the time to completion by up to 50%. They are cheaper to build by up to 20% and they are a more sustainable way to build, producing 22% fewer emissions than traditional construction methods.

[…] We want Canada to be the world leader in this new innovative industry. That’s why we’re providing $25 billion in financing to scale up that industry and in the process we will create good jobs up and down the supply chain.”

We’ve argued for a long time at The Australia Institute that if governments want to make housing more affordable, they should start building affordable housing again.

If they want Australia’s current contenders for PM are serious about tackling the housing crisis, taking inspiration from Canada might be a good place to start.