Canada’s housing crisis needs a cooperative turn

In Canada’s National Observer, Harshit Gujral challenges the supply-side logic underpinning many government housing initiatives, such as the recently launched Canada-Ontario Partnership to Build. While it is important to increase housing stock, Harshit argues, we cannot end the housing crisis until we address its root cause — the commodification of housing. Harshit explains that cooperative housing offers a model of collective ownership that can help us achieve universal housing. He offers policy directions for making housing co-ops a more central part of the government’s housing strategy.

Harshit Gujral is a PhD candidate in computer science at the University of Toronto. His research and writing examine how public policy, data, and social infrastructure shape more equitable cities, with interests spanning housing, transportation, climate, and social protection.

Citation

Gujral, H. (2026) Canada’s housing crisis needs a cooperative turn. Canada’s National Observer. https://www.nationalobserver.com/2026/06/11/opinion/canada-housing-crisis-cooperative-model

Excerpt

Unfortunately, because it is focused primarily on increasing housing supply, the Canada-Ontario Partnership to Build is unlikely to end homelessness and housing precarity. The root cause of the crisis is a system designed to maximize returns for landlords, investors and developers rather than achieve universal housing. To actually end the crisis, we must move beyond the “housing as a commodity” model.

A better model is co-operative housing, where members collectively own and govern their homes. Financial surpluses are not siphoned off by external stakeholders; they are funneled back into maintenance and upgrades. Co-ops can also maintain mutual support programs such as hardship funds and flexible payment plans, helping protect the right to housing for all members, even during a nationwide affordability crisis.