Housing minister Ahmed Hussen still believes in the dream of home ownership in Canada

AARON HUTCHINS

AHMED HUSSEN’S FIRST HOME in Canada was a social-housing unit on Hess Street in Hamilton that he shared with his cousin. He was only 16 years old then, a refugee who had fled Somalia during the civil war. By 2002, the same year he completed an undergraduate degree at York University, Hussen had co-founded the Regent Park Community Council to advocate for more subsidized units, services and amenities for residents amid a massive $500-million revitalization of the Toronto neighbourhood. Hussen, who was elected to Parliament in 2015 and appointed minister of housing and diversity and inclusion last October, has deep knowledge of the complexities of unaffordable housing. The current real estate market has Canadians frantically scrambling for property—or priced out altogether. The issue was the undisputed focus of April’s federal…

You're reading a preview of

Maclean's (Digital) - 1 Issue, June 2022

DiscountMags is a licensed distributor (not a publisher) of the above content and Publication through Zinio LLC. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered on our website, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of DiscountMags. DiscountMags does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, truthfulness, or usefulness of all or any portion of any publication or any services or offers made by third parties, nor will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in any Publication, or your use of services offered, or your acceptance of any offers made through the Service or the Publications. For content removal requests, please contact Zinio.