Given the multi-faceted nature of the crisis, solutions must be varied. One way to ease the crisis is to facilitate homeownership for the middle class. Each time a family buys a home, a rental unit is freed up. As in the 1950s, housing prices are too high due to developers prioritizing luxury residences to maximize profit. Banks similarly benefit from financing larger projects. This vicious cycle needs to be broken, which will require government intervention. In November 2024, the median family income in Ontario is 79,500$ after taxes, or about 6,625$ per month. For a 900,000$ home north of Toronto, with a down payment of 150,000$ and an interest rate of 5.00% over 30 years, the monthly payments (including property taxes and insurance) amount to 4,026$. This represents more than 50% of a family’s net income.

In 1955, inspire by the Nova Scotia Antigonish Movement, the Montreal Cooperative purchased lands in St-Léonard-de-Port-Maurice, where it built 655 houses between 1956 and 1962, sold at prices ranging from 8,500$ to 12,000$, approximately 40% below the market price at the time. Financed by Desjardins and with support from all three levels of government, the cooperative enabled working-class families to access homeownership. To be eligible, one needed to have held a stable job for at least two years, with an income equivalent to a factory wage. The homes were sold at cost, and cooperatives built more than 10,000 houses between the 1950s and 1960s in the greater Montreal.

Today, the cooperative concept should be modernized, but the ultimate goal remains the same. To alleviate the housing crisis, some countries have favored high-rise apartment buildings, but these structures with limited green space hold little appeal for younger generations and don’t address the current crisis. Canada, with its vast lands, has enough space to support single-family homes, condos, duplexes, or triplexes, each with landscaped surroundings and gardens.