By Ketki Saxena
Investing.com -- Despite Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recent claim that housing is not a primary federal responsibility, public opinion seems to indicate otherwise. A fresh survey suggests nearly half the Canadian population hold the federal government accountable for escalating housing prices.
The Leger poll conducted between August 18 and 20, featuring input from over 1500 participants, aimed to gauge public sentiment on rising housing costs and potential solutions. When asked who was most at fault for the current crisis, two in five respondents (40%) laid the blame squarely at the feet of the federal government.
However, accountability wasn't limited solely to Ottawa - roughly one-third (32%) of those surveyed also implicated provincial governments in their responses. In contrast, municipal administrations seemed least culpable with only 6% attributing blame locally.
A small group of respondents (22%) were unsure where responsibility lay. Nonetheless, an overwhelming majority (95%) agreed on one thing - skyrocketing rents and lack of affordable homes are pressing issues in Canada today.
Moreover, more than half (55%) admitted worrying about meeting rent or mortgage payments recently – including a significant portion reporting frequent concerns over payment capability.
Interestingly enough though this concern varied demographically; rural residents and those above 55 years old expressed less worry compared with urban dwellers or younger Canadians aged between 18-24 years old who exhibited maximum stress levels regarding their ability to pay for accommodation expenses.
When presented with possible solutions that could be implemented by various levels of government towards addressing these issues , respondents showed strong support towards certain measures such as constructing more state-sponsored residences along with offering incentives encouraging developers into building cost-effective dwelling units (79% approval)
Other popular initiatives included stricter control over rental price increases (77% approval) while income-based rent subsidies received endorsement from 68% of people consulted during this study.
Less popular proposals involved discouraging short-term rentals (56% approval) alongside providing homeowners monetary benefits allowing them to offer rental suites within their properties (64% approval)
On a general basis however, it appeared homeowners demonstrated lower enthusiasm when supporting any proposed remedies as opposed to renters.