Housing is a human right. That means governments have an obligation to make sure public money serves the public good and to prioritize the people most at risk. Right now, in Canada, it doesn’t.

Governments tell you their priorities and values by how they spend. On housing, their words of concern about a housing crisis don’t match their numbers. Every year, Ottawa commits billions to housing through two channels: the money it spends, and the revenue it chooses not to collect. The overwhelming share of both protects the wealth of people who already own homes and the profits of the investors, leaving here-today, gone-tomorrow leftovers for people actually in crisis.

The support we often hear about, be it the National Housing Strategy, Build Canada Homes, or Reaching Home, is real, but it's the smallest part of the picture. The bigger part - and the least talked about - is the money you never see: the revenue the federal government forgoes through the tax system.

Tax exemptions, low-cost federal financing, and rebates supposedly intended to fix the housing crisis are flowing straight to some of the country’s largest corporate landlords and investors, like REITs and pension funds, who use public money to buy up existing rental buildings, raise the rent, and push people out.

Public dollars are subsidizing the very forces that are driving housing unaffordability for tenants and pushing people into homelessness.

It doesn’t stop there. The tax exemption on the sale of a principal home alone costs about $5.5 billion a year, close to ten times what Canada spends fighting homelessness. Add a few other homeowner tax measures and it climbs to $6 to $10 billion a year, flowing overwhelmingly to people who already own property and need support the least.

Think of it this way: The government is spending billions to create a housing crisis. And then spending a fraction to clean up the mess they have created. It doesn’t add up. And it isn’t smart spending.

This government can choose a different path. One that uses public money to dismantle inequality instead of entrenching it, and to ensure everyone in Canada can live in peace, security, and dignity.