Housing collapse in Canada is the only way to break the cycle and rebuild

I grew up thinking that new appliances were insanely expensive because my parents always chose to repair old ones, even when they barely worked. It wasn’t about being frugal; it was more about avoiding the hassle of replacing things. They’d rather struggle with broken machines than get new ones, and looking back, it seems a bit silly. The cost of all those repairs could’ve bought new models many times over, and it would’ve been a lot less frustrating.

This mindset reminds me of the housing crisis we’re dealing with today. Just like my parents’ approach to fixing old things, people have been putting off real solutions to the housing crisis in Canada. There’s been this idea that fixing things is too big of a hassle, but sometimes, the real cost comes from avoiding the inevitable.

For a long time, I believed that the Canadian housing market couldn’t be fixed, but now, I’m starting to think that a crash might actually be what’s needed. The housing bubble is unsustainable, and it’s going to burst eventually. We can either face it now or keep struggling through repairs that won’t work in the long run.

Canada’s housing crisis isn’t just an abstract problem—it’s a reality that affects everyone. You see it everywhere: soaring housing prices, inflated rents, and a generation that’s stuck trying to get a foothold while those with assets profit off an unsustainable system. When you really think about it, a lot of the chaos we’re seeing comes back to housing—it’s the core issue.

One way to think about it? Canada’s housing market has become a mix of Manhattan prices, Scandinavia taxes, and Eastern Europe wages. It’s like we’re trying to live in a place that just doesn’t match the reality of what most people can afford. And what’s worse, there’s a whole generation that bought into it, riding the wave of rising home values, while the younger crowd gets crushed beneath it.

And you might not know this, but 17% of boomers own more than one home in Ontario. Meanwhile, a full 75% of them own at least one. It’s no wonder the system feels rigged. It’s like the people who’ve had the most opportunity are hoarding it all, leaving the rest of us scrambling. Add to that the huge homes—4,000 sq ft and up—that are coming online over the next decade, and you can see where this is all headed.

The truth is, the economy has become a zombie. It’s stuck on life support, propped up by policies that favor the ones already in power. How long can the government keep this going? How long can they prop up a system that keeps making the rich richer and the rest of us poorer? All this comes at the expense of everyone else, just to keep a certain group of people happy.

What bothers me the most is the resignation in conversations about it. So many people feel powerless, like there’s nothing that can be done. But the truth is, we can do something. The system doesn’t need more patchwork fixes; it needs a reset. If we keep pretending that things will get better on their own, we’ll keep spiraling into more debt and instability.

I’m convinced that a housing crash might be the only way to fix this. It would force a reset, much like what we need in the broader economy. People who never had a fair shot at owning a home are stuck paying the price for the mistakes made by those who have profited from this bubble. The longer we delay, the worse it gets for those at the bottom.

Governments keep pushing policies that prop up this unsustainable system, but it’s clear that they’re not working. The real solution isn’t about cutting development charges or adding more houses that are still overpriced. We need to let the system break so we can build something that actually works.

In the meantime, the younger generation is caught between a rock and a hard place. Many of us are priced out of the market, working harder than ever but still struggling to get by. The system rewards those who’ve already made their wealth, leaving us with nothing but uncertainty.

The housing market needs to crash, and it needs to crash hard. We’ve been told for too long that it’s just a temporary issue, that prices will keep going up. But it’s clear now: the bubble is unsustainable. The only way to reset the market is to let it pop. Only then will we have a chance at building something more affordable and accessible for everyone.

If we keep waiting for things to magically fix themselves, we’re just going to keep living in a cycle of high prices and missed opportunities. The housing market in Canada is broken, and it’s time to let it break down completely. Only then can we rebuild, and finally create a system that actually works for all of us, not just the wealthy few.

Desperately, the zombie economy needs to take a break. How long can the government prop up the housing market to please boomers at everyone else’s expense? The truth is, the housing system has been rigged for the wealthy, while the rest of us are stuck watching prices soar and feeling like we’ll never have a chance at a home. People are trapped in a system where housing is treated like an investment, rather than a place to live. As rents climb, it’s becoming harder for anyone to get ahead.

Eventually, it’s going to break. When it does, maybe we’ll get the reset we need. It won’t be pretty at first, but it might be the only way forward—just like fixing an old appliance rather than constantly throwing money at repairs. So yeah, the housing crisis is at the center of so many of our problems. And unless we’re ready to face it, we’re stuck in the same cycle of frustration and missed opportunities. It’s time for a change.