Good morning, and welcome to first Sunday Special edition of The Maple. This week, I spoke with NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh about his party's plan to address the national housing crisis.

This election, party leaders are on the campaign trail pitching their plans to make life more affordable for Canadians. Amid a national crisis, unaffordability continues to squeeze working-class renters especially hard in the housing market.

This month, the parliamentary budget officer found that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s national housing strategy is having only a “limited” impact on addressing housing needs. As well, the PBO said, the affordability gap – or the difference between the cost of a housing unit and the price a low-income Canadian can afford – is projected to rise by 24 per cent over the next five years.

All this, while rents across the country continue to rise.

But does the NDP's housing plan go far enough to address this crisis? I asked Singh what he thinks truly "affordable" housing means, whether 500,000 affordable housing units is enough to address current shortfalls and if his proposal for a $5,000 renter subsidy is just a bailout for landlords.

Listen to the full interview on Apple, Spotify and Google

Further reading

• Canada's national housing strategy is having only a "limited" impact on housing needs, according to the parliamentary budget officer (The Globe and Mail, August 10, 2021.)
• Condo developer plans to buy $1-billion worth of single-family houses in Canada for rentals (The Globe and Mail, June 13, 2021.)
• Vancouver needs 10,000 affordable housing units a year to address rental 'backlog,' report advises (CBC, December 12, 2019.)
• House sales are booming in rural B.C. — and renters are getting slammed (The Tyee, July 22, 2021.)

Thank you for reading The Maple. We’re not funded by corporations or advertising, which means our public-interest journalism is only possible with support from ordinary readers like you. This week, we provided our daily newsletter - including this week's Sunday special edition - free of charge to all subscribers. To continue receiving our daily news reports striaght to your inbox, please consider signing up today for just $48 per year.

Weekly Roundup

• Justin Trudeau’s Pledge to Train More Firefighters Panned Amid Liberals’ Poor Climate Record.
• Indigenous Leaders Did Not Ask For an Early Election, But Many Are Looking For Action From Federal Parties.
• Erin O’Toole’s Child Care Plan Gets Failing Grade From Advocate.
• What The Timing of Justin Trudeau’s Snap Election Means for Working-Class Voters.

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