Parents: Do NOT Feel Guilty

The housing-affordability crisis is also affecting some want-to-be-buyers’ parents.

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We’ve talked about how unfair and challenging this housing-affordability crisis is for young people, and now, sadly, it’s also affecting many of their parents. I’m seeing more and more people in their fifties and sixties battling guilt, often severe guilt, because they’re not in a position to help their kids out on the home-buying front. To those people

I say from the bottom of my heart, you should not feel that way at all. This is not on you. It’s very difficult to raise a family, cover all the bills, pay off your own home. Often help with post-secondary education costs. Also build up a retirement fund. Very difficult. Especially because life happens — there’s a divorce or temporary job loss or a sick older parent that requires caregiving. To think that the average Canadian can handle all of that and also be able to make a big contribution to their kids’ down payments is really kind of crazy. And unfair. If you’re feeling down that you can’t help out,

remember most can’t. The math just doesn’t math. In fact, I can tell you with certainty that many people who are helping, shouldn’t be. They’re, frankly, just converting their kids’ housing challenges into their own retirement challenges. This darn affordability crisis is having many ripple effects. All negative.

I see it every day. People are having fewer children than they truly want. Canada’s losing some top young talent to the states, not because of our taxes — what many claim — but because of our housing costs. And now parents are battling guilt and sometimes stretching their own finances too far. And frustratingly, it’s going to be years until we get out of this. There’s no quick fix coming.

And, by the way, one of the major reasons why this problem is so tough to solve? Many people don’t really want it solved — the want-to-be-buyers’ crisis is the already-owners’ windfall. More on all of this soon.