It has never been harder to find a place to live in Canada. Whether you are a university student, a young adult, a married couple or a senior, the necessity of shelter is becoming too expensive to afford. Yet shelter truly is a necessity. Canadians are being oppressed by bitter affliction.

This is the harsh reality: In one of the most affluent and advanced nations in the world, people cannot afford housing. In the nation with the second-largest land area in the world, there aren’t enough houses to accommodate everyone. Canada has the worst real estate market and the most expensive prices of all its peers.

While the major cities are the worst, it is becoming unlivable everywhere. The mayor of Wilmot, Ontario, couldn’t afford to buy a house in the town she was elected to lead. The average home costs $1 million.

In Toronto, Ontario, the average room rents for between $800 and $1,000 per month. These are simply rooms in someone’s home or basement, where the living room, bathroom and all other areas are shared. The average bedroom size in Canada is 120 square feet.

Here are some examples from the popular real estate listing site Kijiji:

$790 room in Mississauga, Ontario

$1,075 room in downtown Toronto

What if you need more than a room? Then the price rises sharply. ctv News reported: “A new report from rentals.ca says the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the city jumped to $2,620 in August—up 10.5 percent from August 2022. The price of an average two-bedroom apartment now sits at $3,413 per month, up 7.1 percent from a year ago.” These are statistics from Toronto, but it is the same pattern across the country.

Home prices are also increasing. A report using data from the Canadian Real Estate Association, updated on April 17, shows the average home prices by province.

The mortgage service per month alone is crushing. According to data from 2022, the average Canadian household had to spend 53 percent of its income on servicing a mortgage. In Vancouver, British Columbia, it was over 80 percent; in Toronto, 75 percent. This means most families need two incomes to survive.

While interest rates were low, debt was “cheap,” so there was an unprecedented amount of loans from banks to buy more expensive homes. As interest rates have jumped to 5.25 percent, a lot of the fixed-rate monthly mortgage payments do not even cover the interest costs. This means person’s debt is increasing even as he makes payments. A lot of banks are amortizing mortgages, extending the window to pay off the principal and interest amounts. Some people are getting stuck in 70-year mortgages.

Many people are at risk of defaulting on their mortgages. Very few are escaping the affliction of this housing crunch.

Nearly all Canadians are stuck in the debt cycle, living off credit cards and loans, and the housing crisis is only exacerbating the problem. It is bitter economic affliction. This entire crisis has been self-inflicted by individual decisions and deliberate government policies. Finances are being weighed in the balance, and many will be found wanting.

High interest rates and high inflation are caused by government policies. Since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s first mandate in 2015, his government has added 50 percent to the government debt, which is now $2.2 trillion. Even before the covid-19 pandemic, the Trudeau government printed money and purchased bonds to finance its outrageous spending. The latest budget unveiled included a measure to further raise the debt ceiling, as the deficit spending continues to the tune of $52.9 billion.

All this deficit spending has raised inflation, lowered buying power, and triggered the Bank of Canada to raise interest rates to try to correct the economy. But the economy will never be corrected as long as the government is willing to go billions of dollars in debt.

The government has also created a housing supply crisis through historic levels of immigration. Trudeau was elected in 2015; the fourth quarter of that year saw 69,742 new permanent residents. In 2023, Trudeau brought in over 1 million immigrants, about 400,000 permanent residents and 600,000 temporary workers. Over the next two years, he plans to bring in over 1 million new permanent residents. For a country of only 37 million people, that is a massive wave of humanity to absorb. There aren’t enough rooms, apartments or houses to accommodate everyone.

There wouldn’t be a crisis if not for this contrived immigration policy. This policy was not by accident; it was by design.

The other factor that caused this housing crisis is a case of government complicity. For decades the government has turned a blind eye to Canadian real estate being used in money-laundering operations. Mainly originating in China, criminals associated with organized crime make large sums of money from the drug trade (in Canada and internationally), use the money to buy chips at casinos (thus “washing” the money clean), and use that money to buy real estate. This money-laundering operation mainly centers in Vancouver.

Many wealthy Chinese also buy real estate in Canada to protect their money from the Chinese Communist Party. But to use their money to buy property, fraudulent licenses and papers are produced by compromised government officials, banks and real estate companies, who then use Chinese students studying in Canada to buy the homes. This illegal racket of bribes and lucrative mortgages has artificially raised the real estate market, particularly in large cities. In 2015, one third of Vancouver real estate was owned by Chinese “investors.” Foreign buyers, who have far more resources than the average Canadian, have artificially driven up the value of property. This is all thoroughly explained in Jonathan Manthorpe’s book Claws of the Panda.

All levels of the Canadian government have largely turned a blind eye to it because of personal benefits from Chinese influence, bribery, the threat of losing foreign investment, or a lack of courage.

The housing crisis is a perfect storm of deliberate design. But why would the government want to cause this affliction?

Bible prophecy answers that question. 2 Kings 14:26, a prophecy for our nations today, says: “For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter: for there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel.” Our nations in the end time would be in bitter affliction from our own corrupt leaders.

What is Trudeau’s solution to this crisis? More government control. C2C Journal wrote:

In 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government announced a 10-year, $37 billion National Housing Strategy meant to tackle housing affordability. It hasn’t worked. … Even the recent downturn in house prices, precipitated by the Bank of Canada’s interest rate hikes, hasn’t helped the rental market, as rents continue to climb. In response, the Liberals have doubled down with additional promises to spend over $70 billion by 2027–2028, much of it in an effort to make housing “more affordable” by funding nonprofit, community and co-op housing projects.

The Trudeau government’s strategy of “financialization” is to ban private capital from Canadian real estate through regulation and to maneuver the federal government as the dominant landlord. It would make government-controlled social housing the main option for people to live. This is part of the prophesied bitter affliction.

Why is God allowing this to happen? Canada is one of the most blessed nations on Earth because it is a descendant of the patriarch Abraham. As proved by Herbert W. Armstrong in The United States and Britain in Prophecy, the national wealth and prosperity we have enjoyed is a blessing from God. We received the blessing unconditionally because of Abraham’s obedience and faith—but keeping the blessings hinges on following his example.

“The birthright, once we received it, was stupendous, awesome—unequaled among nations or empires! But what have our peoples done with that awesome blessing?” asked Mr. Armstrong. He continued:

Once the British peoples and the Americans … found themselves basking in the pleasant sunshine of such wealth and power, they were less willing than their ancient forefathers to yield to their God and His ways. They felt no need of Him, now! It seems few ever turn to God until they find themselves in desperate need or trouble. … No longer is God obligated by His promise to continue our undeserving peoples in world prestige, wealth and greatness. Once we had been given such unrivaled position, it was up to us whether we should keep it.

The housing crisis will not be solved by government programs or a change of government. It will only be changed through repentance toward God. We have rejected God, so this blessed life we have taken for granted is being taken away. That is what this housing crisis is all about.

God reveals the path out of curses, both personal and national. If you want to know how to be delivered from bitter affliction, read our free book The United States and Britain in Prophecy.