THE FINANCIALIZATION OF HOUSING IN CANADA - A Summary Report for the Office of the Federal

The Financialization of Housing The financialization of housing refers to the growing dominance of financial actors in the housing sector, which is transforming the primary function of housing from a place to live into a financial asset and tool for investor profits. [...] As part of its research and reporting duties under the NHSA, the Office of the Federal Housing Advocate partnered with leading experts to explore the issue of financialization using a human rights-based approach and to propose legislative and policy recommendations for the consideration of the federal Minister Responsible for Housing. [...] These include: • The financialization of mortgages and home ownership • The financialization of single-family housing and single-family rentals (SFRs) • The financialization of multi-family rental housing • The financialization of seniors’ housing • The financialization of social housing • The financialization of student housing • The financialization of short-term rental (STR) housing • The finan. [...] Specifically, in Articles 21 and 23 of UNDRIP, states are expected to take “effective measures to ensure 1 These include the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (Farha & Schwan, 2020, p. [...] The Financialization of Housing Housing is not just one “part of the economy” implicated with finance, but is in fact a central pillar of financialization The financialization of housing refers to the growing dominance of financial actors in the housing sector, which is transforming the primary function of housing from a place to live into a financial asset and tool for investor profits (Leijten &.