toronto housing market

Co-owning homes is now being proposed as the solution to Toronto's housing crisis

The Ontario government is now offering residents a pretty shocking solution to Toronto's housing crisis.

As prices for buyers and renters alike continue to skyrocket, the provincial government has published a new guide offering some ways for prospective homeowners to navigate the current real estate market.

And what, one might wonder, is the super sensible crux of the guide? Well, it advises that we round up our other friends who can't afford a house either, and buy one together!

Living with multiple adults and/or families under one roof has a range of benefits, Ford and his staff claim, including fostering a sense of community, giving you the option to live in neighbourhoods you couldn't afford on your own or with just one partner, and, of course, being able to afford a home at all in the bonkers housing bubble we're currently living in.

Some on social media find the proposition quite hilarious, saying things like "roommates: no longer just for students!" and "this sounds more like some weird plan to finally get incels laid."

Others point out that co-living situations are, for better or worse, a reality in many dense metropolitan areas around the world. "Don't want to live in a large, densely packed city? Move somewhere that isn't a large, densely packed city," one Reddit user says.

And still others are commenting on the irony of a capitalist political figure endorsing socialist concepts like pooling resources.

There is certainly nothing wrong with co-ownership in theory, but it shouldn't be residents' only option because of a drastic lack of affordable housing.

Many experts note that the manual, though it does provide some helpful information about how to go about co-owning a home, is nothing even remotely close to a fix for Ontario's systemic housing problem.

Lead photo by

Jeremy Gilbert


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