Bringing new ideas to housing research

In 2017, the Government of Canada launched the National Housing Strategy (NHS), marking a renewed federal role in housing after decades of limited engagement. Using Bacchi’s What’s the Problem Represented to Be (WPR) approach paired with a housing justice lens, this paper examines how the NHS and related consultation documents construct the problem of housing in Canada. Rather than evaluating the Strategy’s successes or failures, the analysis focuses on how housing inequality is represented, the assumptions underlying these representations, and the implications for the types of solutions considered. The paper identifies two key logics shaping problem representations: the obfuscation of systemic inequities and the legitimization of market-based solutions. This framing shapes which interventions are visible or feasible within the Strategy, highlighting how policy discourse can constrain transformative approaches to housing inequality while maintaining existing structures.