Our Crumbling Foundation: How We Solve Canada’s Housing Crisis
Gregor Craigie
Random House Canada

Each day as I look out my window I see unhoused folk shuffled down the street by the police to . . . nowhere. This is one highly visible aspect of the housing crisis, but there are many more.  The number of food bank users in the province increases and Alberta’s minimum wage is one of the lowest in the country.  

Reading Gregor Craigie's book Our Crumbling Foundation gives hope and insight, with calls for a basket of solutions.

He does a survey of international solutions to housing such as London’s essential workers housing plan to ensure that teachers and nurses can live close to where they work. I hear echoes of this as Jasper looks to rebuild after the wildfire. The Alberta provincial government recently committed 112 million dollars for 250 modular homes in Jasper*. The federal government has forgone tax revenue and land lease income in Jasper to assist with redevelopment. That is an example of intergovernmental cooperation to find solutions.

Significant governmental support for social and public housing ended in the late ‘80s. Today’s housing crisis demonstrates that the private market cannot or will not provide safe decent and affordable housing for all Canadians. 

While some in McCauley oppose any further social housing in the area, the scope of the housing crisis in Edmonton increases and our neighbourhood population declines. Craigie’s book is “dedicated to everyone whose life is on hold because they cannot find a home of their own.”  

The appendix is entitled “Repairs.” It is a call for not one strategy or solution, but a collection of policies and actions.

If we look at housing as shelter and a human right rather than an investment or retirement savings plan, then it is a community and governmental responsibility. 

Gail Silvius is a resident of McCauley and is not a property owner.

*Source: October 21, 2024 press release from the Government of Alberta.