New Report: Immigration Isn’t the Problem – A Smart Growth Agenda for Housing Affordability

Century Initiative is releasing a new Key Insights Report on one of Canada’s most urgent challenges: housing affordability.

Canada has experienced the fastest population growth in the G7 since 2001. While this growth has brought many benefits, it has also exposed a lack of long-term planning that connects immigration with housing, infrastructure, and public services. Too often, the housing crisis is blamed on immigration, despite evidence showing that newcomers account for only about 11% of recent home price increases. The remaining 89% is driven by factors like cheap borrowing, low supply, and market speculation

This paper argues that reducing immigration levels will not solve Canada’s housing crisis. Instead, Canada needs a smart growth framework that links immigration, housing, and infrastructure policy, and takes a long-term, evidence-based approach to affordability.

Key themes include:

• Why immigration is not the primary driver of Canada’s housing challenges.
• The real economic and demographic factors behind affordability pressures.
• Why the Immigration Levels Plan is the wrong tool for housing policy.
• How a smart growth framework can align housing supply, regional realities, and long-term prosperity.

📖 Read the full report here