It’s 8:12am on a Sunday. Minus 4 degrees. Partly cloudy Ontario skies and I’m firing up a barbecue grill for the first time ever at this hour.
After prepping and seasoning this early (and rather random) morning treat with spices that have taken me all of my life to figure out, something about this culinary project in my own kitchen feels slightly surreal.
“My own kitchen?”
How did this happen?
Pinch me because I never thought this was possible.
This unimagined home. Forever grateful.
With a new election called from Parliament (and candidates beginning their campaigns and travels), it remains to be seen over the coming month who will be prioritizing roads to ensure that home and property ownership does not seem like an impossibility for Canadian individuals and families that aspire and work towards such a desire.
Unfortunately, we are witnessing a time of high cost mortgages and rentals, skyrocketing market prices of housing, limited availabilities of both rentals and houses built and for sale, and young people and families discovering massive challenges to keep a roof over their heads that isn’t their parents’.
I can relate. For far too long, home ownership seemed like an absolute impossibility for me. While the dream resided in the far-back recesses of my mind and heart, I never seriously thought it could happen. However, between working three-job for roughly a decade and some unique circumstances that seemed like rare fist-bumps from the universe, I’ve found that home ownership is more than merely a place to lay one’s head or ignite a grill – it’s a reality that all Canadians should have within their reach.
As the gears of election campaigns and policies begin to hum and turn, I think it’s definitely something to hold close to heart, because home ownership not only enriches individuals and families, but also enriches the towns and communities we call home and where we call each other neighbours, relatives, and friends.
It enriches individuals and families because each time a mortgage payment is made, personal wealth is being built in the form of equity, which is connected to long-term financial stability. When needed, such equity can be used to secure other personal loans and allows for other opportunities. A home is a wonderful investment, as well as a sense of freedom, predictability, and security.
The creative freedom to make one’s house truly one’s home is something special. Whether one chooses to modify a kitchen, backyard, or entire living space with paint, art, lighting, or renovations, it becomes one’s small world where what rests within one’s heart (or the hearts of a family) can be reflected on, in, and about such a small world surrounding us.
Although paying the occasional property tax isn’t enjoyable as a Halestorm show or Senators hat-trick, what property owners pay-in via property tax helps to enrich, build, and maintain the towns and communities that (in turn) help enrich, build, and maintain our own lives. Museums, recreation centres, programs and services, libraries, police, fire departments, ambulance services, roads, sidewalks, parks, schools, snow removal and more are paid for by local governments by funds collected by property taxes (and more). That direct-line to our community is something I personally enjoy contributing towards.
Amazing neighbours and others who are making their way through life towards many similar dreams and goals often coalesce into a sense of community.
Before my realtor placed the key in my hand, I rented for many years. It made the most sense at the time, as it was a nest for me to land while saving while trying to square the circle of looking past impossibility towards “someday” on the horizon – and of course, there are some benefits to choosing renting over property or home ownership. Growing up, my family landed within such a nest while trying to spot a bright spot on the horizon.
But the many facts remain and concerns of many sustain: opportunities for many of our neighbours and friends who hope for the same appear to have drastically narrowed and could very well continue to do so.
When we support the building of homes, create avenues towards home ownership, and encourage those who champion the in-roads to an economy that lends to make such opportunities possible for others in their day (just as we have been blessed with gratitude in ours), we enrich others’ lives, neighbourhoods, towns, communities, and the country we call home.
How do we profoundly support our communities?
With the current matters of rising southern tariffs adding to the previously mentioned challenges (and the narrowing hope of far too many for homes, rentals, or even stable places to lay their heads), keeping home ownership, the building of homes, lessening the feeling of impossibility for young families, and the health of the economy close to the core of our hearts when we visit ballots may be key.
Acknowledging the direct connection between home and property ownership (and rentals) and the enrichment of individuals, families, and communities (and the very economy that sustains us all), keeping these considerations at the front of our minds on election day may be key.
If there was ever a place to ensure there are paths to meet such aspirations and hard work with avenues of opportunity, it is here in Canada in 2025.
Let’s be good neighbours and support those who ensure that so many others have the opportunities, promise, and comfort tomorrow that many of us are blessed to experience today.
– Robert Horton is an educator, writer, orator, and member of Rainy River First Nations.
