Workers complete a wartime home in Vancouver in May 1944. Photo by Harry Rowed/NFB.

Mark Carney has consistently drawn parallels between his government’s $25 billion housing program and the wartime policies that ended the housing crisis of the 1940s.

The comparison is not entirely unreasonable. Both were devised in response to housing shortages caused by economic downturns, a scarcity of skilled labour, and rapid migration to urban centres. Both were launched on a backdrop of rising rentierism, widespread evictions, and overcrowding. Both involved the creation of new Crown corporations, the opening of public lands, and the use of prefabricated construction techniques.

By all appearances Carney’s policies are an honest attempt to replicate the success of Second World War-era housing strategies. But the devil is in the details. On closer inspection, the Liberal’s housing strategy is built on the sand of market forces, an error which the policy makers of the 1940s studiously avoided.

Carney has promised to establish a new Crown corporation, Build Canada Homes (BCH), which will be tasked with constructing affordable housing at scale through the power of public-private partnerships, or P3s. BCH will swing no hammers and own no property. Instead it will take on financing and project management responsibilities. Homes built by private firms with federal dollars will be immediately sold on the open market. However, there is no guarantee they will be sold to the people who need them most. There is nothing to prevent speculators, landlords, and financialized firms from purchasing them, and there is no indication that they will come with affordability covenants designed........

© Canadian Dimension