Housing Crisis without Adversely

Canadian-based real estate brokerage Dream Maker Realty, Inc., is dedicated to helping its clients turn their dreams of owning homes into reality. Focused on real estate as an investment tool, Dream Maker Realty Inc. knows the value of fixing up existing properties rather than buying new. A national housing shortage and climate change are two of the largest issues facing Canada today, and renovating existing properties across the nation is one of the ways the country can combat both issues.

Due to steady population growth since 2016, there are more Canadians that need homes than there are houses available in the country. Unfortunately, building more homes to satisfy demand may have an adverse effect on the climate. Building new suburban communities can lead to more highways and more cars on the road, which is the leading cause of greenhouse gas emissions in Ontario. More suburban communities would also lead to less natural green space across the nation.

As an alternative, experts are looking at converting apartment buildings built after World War II, which are common across the country. There is also the opportunity to build residential units in former office building that are no longer in use, as many businesses have downsized or shifted to remote working.

Redeveloping existing buildings is not going to completely solve either crisis, but it is a step in the right direction. As developers continue to build communities in the suburbs, there are ways that they can make strategic decisions to lessen their environmental impact. By building smaller homes, townhouses, and apartment buildings, they can reduce their carbon footprint and fit more people into smaller areas. The manner in which housing is developed going forward could have a huge impact on future greenhouse gas emissions in the country.

Canadian Home Ownership at Risk

Based in the Toronto area, Dream Maker Realty, Inc. pursues property asset management strategies and is part of a broader enterprise that develops sought-after properties region-wide. Led by Isaac Olowolafe Jr., Dream Maker Realty, Inc. aims to make homeownership more accessible to people from diverse backgrounds.

In November 2020, Toronto Star article “Black families were being left out of homeownership,” Mr. Olowolafe focused on how owning a home plays a crucial role in the prosperity of generations of black Canadians. Formed after World War II, the National Housing Act assisted returning soldiers and their families, as well as those who followed, from all backgrounds, for generations.

Unfortunately, while nearly 70 percent of Canadians own homes, prices have skyrocketed. For example, in the course of a single generation, the cost of a family-sized residence in Toronto has risen from four times to 15 times the average family income. This has created a racial gap, with higher-income neighborhoods where homeownership is prevalent, being three-quarters white. By contrast, lower-income neighborhoods, where renting is more common, have 69 percent minority residents.

Many of the latter residents, including hard-working black families, cannot pass down equity in the form of property, with the only inheritance the children receive being “rising costs.” Mr. Olowolafe proposes that Canadian voters look seriously at systemic ways in which the middle class can be expanded, rather than whittled down, and stability and prosperity preserved for people of all cultural backgrounds.