Clear goals and objectives, for one. Vague anger directed at Parliament Hill probably won’t generate much change. We need policy directives, and protests aimed at those responsible for those policies. As such, a lot of this falls on the provincial, and by extensions, municipal governments.

At the federal level, people should be up in arms that the CMHC hasn’t been generating affordable housing for decades now. That warrants a proper plan from them that isn’t just handouts for developers with loose goals and no teeth for enforcement. That probably deserves a protest until the federal government actually comes up with something substantive.

At the provincial level, people need to be asking what kind of developments are being zoned. If the Ford gov’t is going to be giving away the Greenbelt to developers, what do they plan to build? Why are there luxury homes in planning?

That sounds like a favour to development companies, and not the average citizen. People ought to demand explanations for every single McMansion. They should be marching on the legislature and their city halls for those explanations. This is a housing crisis. It is a real emergency and requires a real response like any other emergency.

As an analogy: Would you be happy to know that the shipbuilder decided to skimp out of lifeboats so they could build Rich Uncle Pennybags a high-priced yacht instead? The ship is going down; people are downing. But, the government has decided to do the shipbuilder ‘a solid’ and let them build more high-profit items instead of what millions of people need to live. That demands an answer.

The same goes for rent controls. Why aren’t loopholes being closed? Why are people still being ‘renovicted’ in Vancouver? These are regulation failures that deprive people of their “right to life, liberty and security of the person.” It demands a response.