BECAUSE HOUSING IS A HUMAN RIGHT
Housing is a home, the shelter, safety and comfort necessary for individuals and families to thrive, a human right, essential for social and economic wellbeing and one of the most powerful drivers of our economy. Currently, 1.7 million Canadians are in core housing need, and affordable housing is increasingly out of reach for many renters and first-time homebuyers.
The “Financialization of Housing” is a complex system of government policies, financial instruments, individual and corporate behaviors. It is often associated with structural market changes whereby housing is increasingly being treated as a commodity, a means of accumulating wealth, and as securities that are traded and sold on local and global markets. We define the concept of ‘financialization’ as the growing influence of financial instruments, institutions, and investors in local housing markets.
- Challenge
- Social Ventures
CSI Institute has partnered with Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and MaRS on a social innovation lab to understand how the Financialization of Housing is impacting housing affordability in Canada, and support the goal of every Canadian having a home they can afford that meets their needs by 2030.
The partners wanted to understand how the Financialization of Housing, securitization and the associated shifts in real estate investment practices are impacting housing affordability.
Part of the CSI Solves Initiative
At CSI, we use labs, social R&D and prototypes that identify new and improved models that can transform existing paradigms and reveal market opportunities. Learn more about our approach here.
