Prime Minister Justin Trudeau many seniors live in houses that are “too big” for them. in a podcast with "generational fairness" advocacy group Generation Squeeze said on its website claimed the comment swayed with “our persistent advocacy” the Trudeau Liberals into writing “an entire federal budget organized around the promise of Fairness For Every Generation.” The group is now pushing for an annual surtax of 0.2% to 0.5% on all homes over $1 million and 1% for homes worth $2 million, per a report it recently released.The theme of the podcast was how older generations should recognize the “sacrifice” younger generations make and the “tolerance” they show in delaying buying homes. The group suggests the cost of housing has skyrocketed so much for the purpose of keeping the “nest egg” of older generations higher, and Trudeau agreed.Generation Squeeze Founder Paul Kershaw praised Trudeau for his recent interview on housing where he “acknowledged that, for those who are renting that have been locked out of homeownership and resulting wealth inequalities, it’s not always fair.” That interview “showcased how big an ask Gen X and boomers are making of the younger demographic,” said Kershaw, asking Trudeau how to talk to older people who are “asking too much of young folks.”Without taking any responsibility for the housing affordability crisis on behalf of himself as prime minister or his government, Trudeau instead said pension plans need to be approved, housing prices have gone up and most of all, “we need to stop speculating.” But as the interview progressed, the pair fixated on what they see as the root cause of the issue: the younger demographic is blocked from entering the housing market because older people won’t give up their homes. The “challenge” therefore is getting Gen X and boomers to “understand” how the housing market has changed from back in the day when older Canadians “scrimped and saved” to buy their homes, said Trudeau.The PM suggested “older folks” have big homes and claimed they no longer wish to live in them. Seniors have stayed in their homes because of lack of other options, speculated Trudeau. Various factors keep them from relinquishing their houses, but the problem is they don’t really understand the plight of younger generations who may never get their foot in the door of the housing market. “One of the things that always comes up for me is that on housing, you have a whole bunch of older folks who are living in houses that are too much house for them right now, but their connection to neighbourhood, to community, means that no, they don’t want to move out to the suburbs or to some other city to be closer to their grandkids, they still want to live in their community’s quality of life,” said Trudeau.“There is no housing that they can afford even to downsize, other than staying in their big house.” .Trudeau said there are ways to mitigate such issues, such as “looking to increase the amount of apartments or senior assisted living in neighbourhoods where people currently live and where there’s single family homes.”He said there are solutions and his government is “starting to look at the kinds of things that give you a way out that will eventually shift those numbers in a very meaningful way.” Trudeau when asked about young people who voted for him a decade ago with big dreams of homeownership at the time are now grossly disappointed to learn the reality they may bever be able to afford a home, said they still would have been worse off without his leadership.“You can say (to them), ‘Look, it would have been way worse had we not made the investments we did’,” Trudeau said. “There is something fundamentally shifted in our economy that young people don’t have the kinds of opportunity they had before.”Kershaw at the end of the interview asked Trudeau about the advocacy’s groups central plea: to appoint a cabinet minister for generational fairness. Trudeau said Kershaw was “incredibly helpful in our thinking,” and said having a minister for this novel role is a “really interesting idea.”“I think it’s something that you and I can probably work together on,” said Trudeau.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau many seniors live in houses that are “too big” for them. in a podcast with "generational fairness" advocacy group Generation Squeeze said on its website claimed the comment swayed with “our persistent advocacy” the Trudeau Liberals into writing “an entire federal budget organized around the promise of Fairness For Every Generation.” The group is now pushing for an annual surtax of 0.2% to 0.5% on all homes over $1 million and 1% for homes worth $2 million, per a report it recently released.The theme of the podcast was how older generations should recognize the “sacrifice” younger generations make and the “tolerance” they show in delaying buying homes. The group suggests the cost of housing has skyrocketed so much for the purpose of keeping the “nest egg” of older generations higher, and Trudeau agreed.Generation Squeeze Founder Paul Kershaw praised Trudeau for his recent interview on housing where he “acknowledged that, for those who are renting that have been locked out of homeownership and resulting wealth inequalities, it’s not always fair.” That interview “showcased how big an ask Gen X and boomers are making of the younger demographic,” said Kershaw, asking Trudeau how to talk to older people who are “asking too much of young folks.”Without taking any responsibility for the housing affordability crisis on behalf of himself as prime minister or his government, Trudeau instead said pension plans need to be approved, housing prices have gone up and most of all, “we need to stop speculating.” But as the interview progressed, the pair fixated on what they see as the root cause of the issue: the younger demographic is blocked from entering the housing market because older people won’t give up their homes. The “challenge” therefore is getting Gen X and boomers to “understand” how the housing market has changed from back in the day when older Canadians “scrimped and saved” to buy their homes, said Trudeau.The PM suggested “older folks” have big homes and claimed they no longer wish to live in them. Seniors have stayed in their homes because of lack of other options, speculated Trudeau. Various factors keep them from relinquishing their houses, but the problem is they don’t really understand the plight of younger generations who may never get their foot in the door of the housing market. “One of the things that always comes up for me is that on housing, you have a whole bunch of older folks who are living in houses that are too much house for them right now, but their connection to neighbourhood, to community, means that no, they don’t want to move out to the suburbs or to some other city to be closer to their grandkids, they still want to live in their community’s quality of life,” said Trudeau.“There is no housing that they can afford even to downsize, other than staying in their big house.” .Trudeau said there are ways to mitigate such issues, such as “looking to increase the amount of apartments or senior assisted living in neighbourhoods where people currently live and where there’s single family homes.”He said there are solutions and his government is “starting to look at the kinds of things that give you a way out that will eventually shift those numbers in a very meaningful way.” Trudeau when asked about young people who voted for him a decade ago with big dreams of homeownership at the time are now grossly disappointed to learn the reality they may bever be able to afford a home, said they still would have been worse off without his leadership.“You can say (to them), ‘Look, it would have been way worse had we not made the investments we did’,” Trudeau said. “There is something fundamentally shifted in our economy that young people don’t have the kinds of opportunity they had before.”Kershaw at the end of the interview asked Trudeau about the advocacy’s groups central plea: to appoint a cabinet minister for generational fairness. Trudeau said Kershaw was “incredibly helpful in our thinking,” and said having a minister for this novel role is a “really interesting idea.”“I think it’s something that you and I can probably work together on,” said Trudeau.
