Driven by a booming technology industry, Toronto's economy has produced a problem too common for all of us already: the rise in housing prices beyond the reach of the middle class. This also plagued Vancouver, where prices have risen even more than in Toronto. Now, Canada is embarking on an ambitious plan to create rental units with more moderate prices. With land deals and tax incentives provided by the city and the provinces, a group hopes to bring 50,000 affordable apartments to Toronto and Vancouver in just 10 years. The project, at a cost of at least $ 10 billion, is on a scale never before seen in Canada, both in size and speed. And it raises doubts about whether the country will be able to address its affordability problem before it's too late. What is at stake, supporters say, is the continued growth of the largest cities in Canada. Last year, Toronto ranked first on UBS Group AG's annual list of the world's major cities with the highest risks of a housing collapse. This has meant that even real estate developers that have reaped large profits, worry that critical workers will be removed from the price of housing. If we do not address the issue of housing, we will reach a ceiling where we will not be able to expand that sector of the economy that we desperately need, Westbank Projects Corp. CEO Ian Gillespie told Bloomberg. The Canadian plan, led by a new nonprofit organization called the Creative Housing Society, proposes to build units aimed at people with an average annual income of between $ 40,000 to $ 100,000, who would spend less than 30% of the family income (before taxes) on housing costs. This has become increasingly difficult now. The average annual income needed to buy an average resale condominium in the city is $ 100,000, when the previous year was $ 77,000, according to Urbanation Inc. On January 1, the government tried to domesticate housing prices with regulations that make it difficult to obtain a mortgage. But that has taken people to the rental market, where average monthly rents rose around 11% in the Toronto region in the first quarter, to $ 2,206, said Urbanation. For real estate agents, the construction of affordable housing is usually a low-margin proposal, especially amid rising construction costs, land prices and interest rates. But the city and the provinces are creating incentives, which include tax exemptions, reduced rates and promises of a quick approval time, as short as six months. This prompted a number of other companies, including Canadian Real Estate Investment Trust, Greenwin Inc. and Tricon Capital Group Inc., to join the strategy of creating affordable housing. Creative Housing goes one step further. The model proposed by the group includes an agreement in which the city provides free land provided that affordable housing is built and maintained in perpetuity. He is also in talks with the Housing and Mortgage Corporation of Canada to receive financing that freezes loans at current interest rates for a period of 10 years. With most of the capital coming from private institutional lenders, the nonprofit organization hopes to start building as early as next year. You need to add a significant amount of housing to even begin responding to demand and we're so far behind in this area that it's really hard to catch up, said Creative Housing executive president and former Toronto city center planner, Jennifer Keesmaat. But if our model works, there are almost an infinite number of new affordable rental units that could be absorbed into the market. In search of the ideal property? Contact me and I will offer you the necessary advice at each step of the process.