Recession and stimulus spending

The program’s overall aim is to develop Canada’s housing research and policy capacity by attracting and retaining the best and the brightest in the housing sector. [...] Conducted through background research and interviews with a wide range of informants, this study is an early look at the implementation of the housing stimulus, the immediate impacts of the recession and stimulus, and the challenges that lie ahead. [...] The purposes of this report are (a) to demonstrate the significance of the housing affordability problem in the financial crisis; (b) to investigate possible impacts of the recession and the implementation of the housing stimulus; and (c) to discuss the policy implications of the crisis, recession and stimulus for affordable/social housing in Ontario going forward. [...] Despite the author’s immersion in the research project over four months, the experience was entirely humbling in terms of the level of knowledge, ideas and intensity of the discussion at the grassroots. [...] Attending the consultation allowed the author to reflect on the validity of the findings and recommendations of this study, and the author highly recommends community-based participatory research in the future.