Agreed on all fronts. In my activism experience in Ontario specifically, I remember how the province would often push back against municipalities that wanted to build something. NIMBYism is another big problem, but the often-overlooked issue is the fact that the private sector is deliberately holding back development because it's more profitable to do so, especially when interest rates are so high.

The amount of profit in building low-rise and even high-rise (non-luxury) developments just doesn't justify the costs, and when every unit you build effectively drives down the amount you can charge for for each unit, there's simply no incentive to build at the rate we need.

There are whole swathes of undeveloped or underdeveloped land in and around cities that would benefit from a crown corporation with deep pockets that would buy up land and build affordable housing on it. A body with the power to compel companies not using land to sell it to the state so that it can be developed for the public good, and with the political cover to piss off local NIMBY organisations without having to worry about political blowback.