Population and Housing

[danbrotherston]

The right to sell something without restriction is not the same thing as owning something.

There are many things that I can own, that I cannot sell unrestricted. Guns being a most obvious example...at least outside of the US. But also cars, some refrigeration systems and equipment.

And those are only examples where government limits my ability to sell something. There are practical restrictions on almost everything.

But you'd never argue that you don't own a gun, because you cannot sell it without restriction.

And FWIW...this wouldn't even be the first time in Canada that you can own a house, but not sell it for whatever market price you like. The homes on Toronto island already apply here.

It is true that “ownership” is not a single indivisible concept, but it is well-established that property generally can be sold for whatever price one can agree with a buyer. The Toronto Islands aren’t a great example, as they are a highly unusual case and in any event what is bought/sold is a land lease together with whatever structure has been built on the land; the actual land ownership does not change (as far as I can tell the land is owned by the City of Toronto).

The notion that we would change property ownership in general to be like the Toronto Islands makes no sense at all and would not achieve the stated goal of improving access to housing. Note that housing on the Toronto Islands is highly inaccessible. Now obviously there is no way for housing on the Islands to be broadly accessible; under the normal system one would have to be wealthy whereas instead one has to be lucky.

But there is no fundamental barrier to housing being more accessible generally; we just have to make it easier to build housing. Step 1 is to allow a wide variety of construction in all residential zones, including eliminating parking minima. Past that it becomes less clear, but as a general rule strict regulation of something is not a good way to get more of it.

I'm not suggesting it's a policy I support. I was only taking exception to the first sentence (I should have highlighted that).

FWIW...I don't necessarily think there should be no restrictions on selling of homes. A price restriction is probably not a good restriction, but the current system is fairly dysfunctional.

But I don't actually think the current system is contributing to the housing crisis as much as it is merely making the experience of the housing crisis worse.