Abstract: The cost of housing in Ontario has steadily increased over the past decade, although the most dramatic increase occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. For the average Ontarian who did not already own their own home, this dramatic surge in prices effectively locked them out of the housing market. This begs the questions: “what caused the surge in housing prices?” and “what can be done to fix it?”. This situation captured the attention of MPPs during the 2022 Ontario Provincial election, offering a multitude of various policy solutions for alleviating the housing crisis. Under this backdrop, LISPOP conducted a survey to capture the attitudes of Ontarians on increasing housing costs, as well as identifying the cause and possible solutions. These attitudes were analyzed by vote intention, housing status and issue salience. We found that there is more consensus than division on the significance of different causes (investors, NIMBY-ism and environmental protection) and solutions (increasing supply and tax policies) to address housing costs. However, the most fascinating results included some notable differences between respondents with varying party identification and homeowning status, especially attitudes towards immigration, investment in public housing and rent control.
Keywords: Survey Research, 2023 Ontario Provincial Election, Housing Policy, Ontario Housing Affordability
Suggested Citation: Arp, et al. (2023). “Summary Findings of the 2022 Ontario Provincial Election Survey.” Grey Literature Report. Laurier Institute for the Study of Public Opinion and Policy. Waterloo, Canada