if you're not from around here, you might not realize that brampton has a very high percentage of residents with a south indian background. we've got the same problem in windsor, which has recently become a destination for international students (because it used to have a surplus of cheap housing, and still has very low entry requirements).

i learned this a few years ago looking for apartments.

in windsor, it's a total cultural turnover. cheap properties get bought up by indo-canadians, who then rent them out to international students, who just import their regular living conditions. they'll cram ten people into a two bedroom apartment, because that's what they know, from where they grew up in india.

i went to one place that was advertised over kijiji as a two-bedroom. it was actually a studio apartment; they decided the living room was one bedroom, and the hallway near the kitchen was a second bedroom. and, there were six people living there, including two who slept in the kitchen.

i doubt that many canadians are really cognizant of this change that is taking place. but, in the end, we might find out that we needed a virus to get the health inspectors on it.

the problem, though, is that i don't want to split them up, or at least not without a massive increase in rental housing availability, because that'll just drive up the cost of rent. at some point we kind of have to clue in - we have an anarchy in housing production that isn't taking into account what we need, and isn't working in coordination with immigration policy. we let far too many poor people into the country, and then get confused when they fight over scarce housing; meanwhile, we have empty houses in the suburbs that nobody even wants to live in, let alone can afford to buy.

we had this under control at one point, but we forgot about it in the 80s, and we've let it get out of hand ever since. it is going to require a major, co-ordinated push by all levels of government to get a handle on it.

if a more co-ordinated housing strategy based on social need rather than profit and property rights is a side product of this catastrophe, that's at least an upside. maybe a little bit of disaster socialism is in order.

for now? i can imagine it. i've seen it. two-three kids per room, at $500/head. it's a racket, perhaps literally. it needs to change.

https://www.bramptonguardian.com/news-story/10018783-coronavirus-spreading-in-brampton-s-overcrowded-housing-a-growing-concern/