This course will examine the rationale for housing policy, the constitutional context and changing role of government levels, the nature of housing markets and housing need, policy and program alternatives used in Canada and their outcomes and how housing policy relates to urban and neighbourhood policy and social and economic policy. The course commences with a brief examination of the rationale and basis for housing policy. From there we will trace the evolution of housing policy since its formal emergence in the early post-war period and over the subsequent 70 years to the present. The course will then engage students in a range of current issues, review potential data sources to support sound policy analysis and compare and contrast the state of policy in Canada with that in other countries.
