IMO this needs government intervention. Not just in Canada but the US too. And I think it will require a multi prong approach. There is no one single solution but several needed concurrently.

I think they (the government) needs to:

1. Build regional passenger rail from from major cities to smaller surrounding towns to encourage development.

2. Provide favorable taxes and loans to developers with a hard requirement that, say 20%, of the units being built must be below market rate that is tied to inflation(?). And involve a government agency to manage these below rate units. Such agency also sets that rate based on the person's income.

3. Increase the local taxes on empty units (say units that sit empty for more than 3 months). The longer they sit empty the higher the rate (up to some maximum). Use extra revenue to fund #1 and #2 above

4. Extra tax corporations that make, say, over $1B in profit from real estate investments. Waive it if they participate in #2 above. Use extra revenue to fund #1 and #2 above

5. On the low end of the market finance building SROs and very high density housing for people that are struggling and simply cannot afford much.