We lost about a half million affordable for-profit rental units in the decade to 2021, mostly as older apartment buildings were bought by big financial investors. Borrowing costs were low, rents were soaring and rent-control laws allowed landlords to raise rent by any amount if a tenancy ended, so it was highly profitable. Today, borrowing costs are higher and rents are down, a bit, from the peak two years ago, so that rush of private speculative investment has slowed. Journalist John Lorinc makes a good case that it’s an ideal time for governments to buy up these older units or fund non-profit and co-op housing providers to do so, so that the units will remain permanently affordable. It typically costs only half as much to buy an existing unit as it does to build a new one. However, to make this possible, it will take much higher levels of spending than the federal government has announced. Read the article here: https://spon.ca/weve-arrived-at-arguably-the-best-moment-to-invest-in-affordable-housing-in-over-a-generation-will-we-seize-it/2025/10/01/