Written by Miranda Lightstone
My parents are Baby Boomers. They worked hard while I grew up. I knew the value of money and what it meant to earn my keep. I grew up in a myriad of different styles of homes and locations from a trailer park to apartments to duplexes to suburban bungalows with large backyards. They currently live on a hobby farm with 60 acres of land. My mother is a retired teacher and my father is soon-to-be retired after working 25+ years at the same hi-tech company.
I live in a modest 2-bedroom condo with a total of eight units in the building. No elevator. No indoor parking. I own this unit. I bought it when I was 30. This condo, if I sold tomorrow, I would not be able to afford to buy again. Rising property values and rapidly increasing interest rates have squished any and all dreams of a move.
You’re thinking, well sure: She’s a millennial. She’s a writer. She spends all her earnings on Starbucks and fancy brunches. She doesn’t have a proper career or rather she chose to go into the creative field because it was “fun” and lucrative.
No, the truth is I, like those in my age bracket and younger, are being squeezed out of a market we’d very much like to be in, but just can’t afford no matter what we do.
But I’m an unmotivated entitled ‘80s baby. My parents are soon-to-be pensioners and retirees. They need the government investments. I need to eat less avocado toast.
“Why do we find so little to invest in a younger demographic?” questions UBC professor and Generation Squeeze Founder, Lead Research and Executive Chair, Dr. Paul Kershaw. “We say they are deserving, and yet we turn a blind eye. This is the kind of generational tension we as an organization are drawing attention to.”
While it’s not always positive and good attention it is attention and something Kershaw and his Generation Squeeze organization are extremely proud to be doing: exposing the financial “squeeze” being put on younger generations and those to come for housing, childcare, and climate change.
What makes him passionate about helping an entire generation to live better and enjoy life? Kershaw’s response is simple and to the point: “I want to harness and honour my mum’s legacy of making a meaningful difference in people’s lives.” He goes on to explain, “Every time I saw my mum go and help ONE person and change their lives there could be a dozen more lined up waiting for that help. And it seemed EXHAUSTING to watch,” Kershaw says with a chuckle. “So, it got me thinking: How can I take my mum’s commitment to try and make a difference in people’s lives and try and actually make change that will actually help hundreds or thousands or millions simultaneously?”
And so, Generation Squeeze is born and built on research conducted by Kershaw in UBC’s School of Population Health. He has a unique insider’s view of what makes Canadians health tick or not. And in his opinion, it’s not just the healthcare system that needs investment to keep us, as a nation, healthy.
“Health and wellbeing starts where we are born, work, live and grow,” admits Kershaw.
But what happens when we can no longer afford to do that?
According to the 2022 federal budget, the government will invest $85 billion in old-age security over the next five years. Childcare is only going to see $27 billion, and housing only $10 billion. That’s less than a third.
Why? And how do we change the narrative?
Kershaw and Generation Squeeze, as well as those who support it, have an interesting and possibly unpopular solution to that generational housing squeeze and how we can help younger generations and younger families afford to move out and buy their first homes:
“Asking those who are sitting on million-dollar properties to invest a little more,” suggests Kershaw “means we could invest billions into deeply affordable housing for those who are being crushed by the current housing market.”
At the moment, current homeowners are enjoying this healthy wealth windfall as housing prices skyrocket, and barely any of that is subject to taxation, unlike the money you decide to invest in the stock market, for example.
Public policy says we are sheltering homeowners from taxation, essentially telling Canadians that this is a good way to go and make an investment after taxes.
“Our government policies direct us to treat houses as an investment,” says Kershaw. “And that policy signal is implicated in our cultural tendency to be confused: Is housing a place to call home or is it a way to get rich?”
If there’s one thing Kershaw and Gen Squeeze know, it’s that changes in politics only happen for those who take a stand and show up for it.
“Polling shows that 70% of Canadians think that we DO need housing prices to stall so earnings can catch up. And 60% are open to the idea of asking those who live in the most affluent homes and live in the top 10-12% of Canadians homeowners to start contributing more,” admits Kershaw.
But clearly those who believe in all of that aren’t showing up to vote. The Baby Boomers do. Those who are about to retire do. And so, the policies remain to appeal to those who show up and vote.
“Politics is going to want to respond to those who organize and show up,” explains Kershaw “And Gen Squeeze is doing everything we can to create that political swell, but we aren’t doing enough. We are about 37,000 strong but we’ve stalled.”
Generation Squeeze needs to turn a transformed frustration into a change. But how?
“My mum is really helpful at modeling the love and intergenerational reciprocity that we need to have to have that conversation,” says Kershaw. “My mum will engage in that and hear it. We all need to have this at the family table and over holidays. There’s love at that table.”
Kershaw admits that it’s a tough conversation to have. To sit down with retirees, like our parents, and let them know they are not leaving the legacy they thought they would be.
According to research conducted by Kershaw, in 1976 when his mum started out in the housing market it took her 5 years to save 20% down payment. Flash forward to today, and it takes 17 years across Canada to save that same amount – 22 in British Columbia and Ontario and 27 in metro Vancouver and Greater Toronto Area. This represents decades of work lost to young Canadians simply to be able to afford the family home they have dreamed of owning since they were kids living in one themselves.
“We are desperately needing housing to be a place we call home more than a good investment strategy,” urges Kershaw. “ With love we can do a lot. And if we can model that at the family table, and see just how Canada has been working, or not, for Canadians then we can bring it into the world of politics which becomes more controversial.”
We, as Canadians, need to model that intergenerational solidarity and have these tough conversations amongst more and more families so we can then scale it up so communities are having them, and scale it up so provinces and countries are having them.
About the author
Miranda Lightstone
Miranda is an active freelance reporter and content editor. She has an extensive track record writing for outlets such as the Globe and Mail, Montreal Gazette, AskMen.com, MSN Autos, The Suburban and Venture Cover. Miranda is passionate about storytelling and the written word.