Placeholder for any r/CanadaPolitics refugees
Rules:
All of Lemmy.ca's rules apply
The "surprisingly simple" solution involves economically attacking the politically stablished forces so, nothing simple about that at all.
Well the author argues for making landlording uneconomical in order to reduce it. That's what the effect of mass building seeks as well. It's just the neoliberal tool to achieving that result. Which as he rightly points out has a significant overhead.
With that said, us in Canada have a couple of critical variables that are different. We have a growing population at significant pace. We also have a lot of unsustainable suburbs due to low density. These don't invalidate the author's argument but adding them to it changes the outcome. We absolutely need to increase density and transit, but also we'd likely need to lean on public housing building. As he rightly states - it's unlikely that commerical builders would build against their self-interest.
While this crossposted opinion piece is within the context of the UK, Canada can also draw inspiration from across the pond to solve the housing crisis.