Jagmeet Singh “offended” young people can’t afford homes in Lower Mainland
Federal New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh is appalled at the lack of affordability in Canada’s biggest cities. He says housing is the biggest problem for millennials and Gen Zs in Metro Vancouver, and he wants to address it.
Singh visited Daily Hive’s Vancouver office on Friday for an interview, during which he discussed affordability and his party’s plans to make things easier for financially stressed Canadians.
His takeaway for the biggest problem young people in the Lower Mainland are facing? Putting a roof over their heads.
“You’re looking at upwards of a million dollars. Just for a starting home. It just feels so crushing,” Singh told Daily Hive. “And there’s not even real options for rent. There’s just not a lot of places for people to go. And I feel a sense of despair. A sense of hopelessness.”
Singh’s own path to success wouldn’t work today
Singh was a criminal defence lawyer before he got into politics. His father dealt with addiction issues, and Singh had to step up to help his family as a young adult. At 20, he took in his 15-year-old brother and supported the two of them with minimum-wage jobs.
He got into Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto and says his education and professional career path gave him stability.
But looking back, he doesn’t think the same path would afford him financial security today.
Singh remembers paying $8,000 per year in law school tuition fees. Now, Osgoode’s tuition for Ontario students is $26,000 annually, with out-of-province and international students paying more.
“You’re walking out with $100,000 of debt, and that’s just tuition,” he said.
He bought his first home once he graduated and became an associate lawyer. It cost $400,000 — a price level that doesn’t exist for graduates today.
“That same home became so expensive. I did nothing to it, just lived in it. And it became crazy expensive. And then everything else got crazy expensive.”
The latest data from RateHub suggests homebuyers need an annual income of about $214,000 to afford the average home in Vancouver. That means a condo — not a house.
“A young me couldn’t have made it through those tough family times today. Couldn’t find a way to build a better life,” Singh said. “And I’m really offended at that.”
Singh added it’s not chance or fluke that did this — but decades of policy. Always a hopeless optimist, he said governmental decisions should also be able to make things easier.
Singh calls for housing change
Sing wants to enact some key changes to make housing more affordable for Canadians.
He believes the federal government should be more involved in building housing, similar to after World War II. More than one million “Strawberry Box” bungalows were constructed in the post-war period to meet housing demand from returning soldiers and pent-up economic activity. The federal government rebooted Canada’s WWII housing policy in December 2023.
The NDP also have a proposal to more strictly govern who owns affordable housing. The party believes banning corporate landlords from buying affordable housing could cool rents in Canada’s biggest cities.
“We need it really seriously,” Singh said. “We need to change the landscape so a young person doesn’t see Vancouver and the Lower Mainland as just an impossible place to live.”
Singh moved to Burnaby back in 2018 after winning a by-election to represent the Burnaby South riding. He’s come to enjoy living in the Lower Mainland, calling it a “beautiful” community where it’s easy to see why people want to call it home.
However, a consistent problem he sees is high prices pushing people away from their friends and family.
“Even folks with decent jobs, they say, ‘I can’t afford to stay here. My family is here, my friends are here, my life is here. But I can’t build a life if I can’t have a place to call my own,'” Singh said. “It’s a real struggle. It’s something I really want to fix.”