National housing. possability or not?

For the last 2 weeks i have been thinking about a national housing program, and if it is possible. To me it seems not only possible but an extremely logical initiative. With the ammount of "bug wood"(wood infected with the mountain pine beatle) in B.C there is enough to create mass amounts of housing cheaply, and there is enough wood to keep the forest indestry alive, because it truly is dieing. I Live in B.C,the central interior,the hardest hit area of B.C, and i can comfortably say that NO 1 out east knows ANYTHING about the ammount of wood infected and the amount of job's lost.

its extremly simple, we get the mills and logging companys to process the wood, instead of the federal govenment giving the forest industry $1 billion to recover, they buy the extremly cheap wood and use a small percentage of it to go towards the construction of the houses.

It would take care of a large part of the homeless problem in canada, stabalise the econamy because it creates self dependance and gets the forestry indusrty back on its feet.

What do you think? could this become a reality?

I think that`s a great idea - certainly would give a boost to the economy, if the move in costs were low enough - both in terms of construction jobs and the residual effects (again, if the sticker price was low enough).

Canada`s affordable housing situation is something that seriously needs to be addressed. I cringe whenever I think of how much I had to fork out in rent in Canada every month - about $1,000 a month for a smallish 1 bedroom in a marginally safe area of Toronto, not including heat, electricity, etc. 650 a month for a basement apartment in Ottawa that was probably illegal and had no natural light to speak of.... and on and on.
Even in a small town, you`ll have problems finding something decent in a 1BR for less than $500/mo.

People seem to have gotten used to the idea - I know quite a few people who live more than 100km from work - a decision they made years ago to save on rent/mortgage costs. Now that the 200km/day commute is a lot more expensive with gas prices on the rise... combined with deregulated power price increases... no one seems to be making any financial progress. Especially people just starting out on their own.

Over here in Japan, by comparison, I can rent a new studio apartment, all included (even high speed internet and cable), with parking, semi-furnished (with all new stuff), a couple of minutes walk from the main (Yamanote) train line in Tokyo for about $700/month. Here`s one example: www.leopalace21.com...

That real estate chain tends to be a little pricey - you can find quite a bit for less. (I tend to use the conversion of 100¥=$1.00 CDN, because if you work here, 100¥ has about the same buying power of a loonie at home. )

Out here in the sticks, for what it`s worth, I pay a whopping $320 a month for a 1 bedroom second floor apartment (10 year old building), with parking, all inclusive. 2 minutes walk from the supermarket, 5 minutes from work, 10 from the hot spring. Can`t remember ever hearing of a break-in in the area. Safe as safe. Find me that anywhere in Canada, and I`ll be on a plane.

What that difference translates to is a few hundred extra dollars I have, each and every month, to drop into the local economy. That`s the economic reality of affordable housing.

If your proposal allowed people to save a few hundred a month, what would that do for, say, the Canadian Automotive Sector? I`m thinking you`d probably see the end of those ancient Le Baron rustbuckets and K-Cars PDQ.

In dealing with construction cost's, and the faltering school system we could use the apprenticeship/trades programs to get the construction done cheaply (next to nothing), and the next generation of construction workers know they have changed the world for a few people and have the practical construction value's needed to graduate.

Edit: i know what you meen about housing even in small towns.
Fort St. James, B.C, population: 1,200

average 1 room apartment cost: $550/month

[edit on 16-2-2008 by Infadel]

Why must we start another program when so many other programs that are broken and falling apart?