Here is a solution to the housing crises that many may not have considered. Open our borders to well meaning, peaceful, productive people around the globe. In a flash, I will bet that the housing slump in Canada and in the US will come to an abrupt end. Currently, in Canada and the US, immigration policies are very restrictive, preventing productive, employable people from entering our borders. Imagine the demand for housing skyrocket if immigration policies are relaxed. Millions of potential buyers would flood the market. Of course I am not suggesting to forgo criminal background checks to prevent unwanted and dangerous individuals from coming to our shores. Rather, by opening up immigration to productive, law abiding immigrants, many of our economic woes including the housing slump would be solved, almost over night.
But governments, being what they are, do not typically think outside the box and the “protectionist” lobbyists are influential. I therefore do not see a relaxed immigration policy on the horizon any time soon. Rather, given our concerns, valid as they are, about national security, the direction immigration policies have taken are more restrictive and this is a trend I see continuing.
In any case, all we can do is assist as many people as we can to successfully immigrate to Canada and the US and do our part!