Make some noise about Canada's housing crisis
Donation protected
We are thousands of proud Canadians who are sick and tired of out-of-control home prices in Canada.
While prices have increased 31% since last year in nearly every market, our politicians have done absolutely nothing. We hoped the federal budget would offer some innovative ideas, but they made one feckless policy about vacancies among foreign buyers. That's it.
We've made a ton of noise about this online — on Reddit, Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere. Now we're taking that energy into the real world. We're buying some ads. Yes, some real actual advertisements, printed on paper and then released into the wild using billboards, transit space and mailers.
If you generously add your funds to this cause, we will use this online movement to make an impact in the backyards of some of the most problematic cities.
Who's organizing this?
We are a band of Canadian savers, renters and homeowners who gather most prominently on the Reddit board r/canadahousing and publicly on the website Canada Housing Crisis . We've been mentioned in The Globe and Mail. This GoFundMe was created by the moderating team. Our mission is simple: drawing attention to the housing crisis and pushing for sustainable price appreciation, transparency in the housing market, and ample supply, all so Canadians can afford a decent home to live in.
We're not going to push for sustainable housing like any old boring nonprofit. We're doing it in the Reddit way. Noisily. Aggressively. And by disturbing the comfortable status quo.
Transparency
We are providing 100% transparency in this campaign. That means every dollar will be spent on advertising and political stunts as directed by all our members on r/canadahousing. We currently have two targets: billboards and mailers (detailed below). We will post screenshots of all our transactions, conversations with advertisers, receipts, transactions and payments here. Our conversations about billboards and mailers are already posted there.
About the campaigns
We can't create ads promoting our exact message of "sustainable price appreciation." Because that is boring and no one will notice or care. So instead, we worked together to devise some material that should grab people's attention.
The intention is to get people to notice what's going on, get them to realize there's a movement afoot to fix these problems, get them to have an emotional reaction. The goal is to pull potential allies off the sidelines and get them engaged. And, inspired by r/wallstreetbets, the goal is to rattle the status quo and show the almighty power of angry internet people.
About the billboards
We secured ad space through a broker using billboards in Ottawa, provided by Bell Media, which has already approved our creative. (See "Transparency" below for more.) It is located here (Google maps link) on Riverside Drive. The billboards on this page are mockups showing our campaign in context. We have three billboards in mind, which are shown on this page, but will run more with more funding.
About the transit ads
We can purchase a series of prominent transit ads around the downtown Ottawa area, near Parliament, for one month. These would be a version of the billboards we already designed.
Why this GoFundMe?
The internet, and Reddit in particular, have proven that powerless and unorganized masses can come together and create a big real-world impact. Look at Wall Street Bets. Look at GameStop. This is what's motivating us. We want to go bigger and make a real change, enabled by the small efforts of thousands of allies. Thanks for chipping in.
Will it work
Hell yeah.
While prices have increased 31% since last year in nearly every market, our politicians have done absolutely nothing. We hoped the federal budget would offer some innovative ideas, but they made one feckless policy about vacancies among foreign buyers. That's it.
We've made a ton of noise about this online — on Reddit, Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere. Now we're taking that energy into the real world. We're buying some ads. Yes, some real actual advertisements, printed on paper and then released into the wild using billboards, transit space and mailers.
If you generously add your funds to this cause, we will use this online movement to make an impact in the backyards of some of the most problematic cities.
Who's organizing this?
We are a band of Canadian savers, renters and homeowners who gather most prominently on the Reddit board r/canadahousing and publicly on the website Canada Housing Crisis . We've been mentioned in The Globe and Mail. This GoFundMe was created by the moderating team. Our mission is simple: drawing attention to the housing crisis and pushing for sustainable price appreciation, transparency in the housing market, and ample supply, all so Canadians can afford a decent home to live in.
We're not going to push for sustainable housing like any old boring nonprofit. We're doing it in the Reddit way. Noisily. Aggressively. And by disturbing the comfortable status quo.
Transparency
We are providing 100% transparency in this campaign. That means every dollar will be spent on advertising and political stunts as directed by all our members on r/canadahousing. We currently have two targets: billboards and mailers (detailed below). We will post screenshots of all our transactions, conversations with advertisers, receipts, transactions and payments here. Our conversations about billboards and mailers are already posted there.
About the campaigns
We can't create ads promoting our exact message of "sustainable price appreciation." Because that is boring and no one will notice or care. So instead, we worked together to devise some material that should grab people's attention.
The intention is to get people to notice what's going on, get them to realize there's a movement afoot to fix these problems, get them to have an emotional reaction. The goal is to pull potential allies off the sidelines and get them engaged. And, inspired by r/wallstreetbets, the goal is to rattle the status quo and show the almighty power of angry internet people.
About the billboards
We secured ad space through a broker using billboards in Ottawa, provided by Bell Media, which has already approved our creative. (See "Transparency" below for more.) It is located here (Google maps link) on Riverside Drive. The billboards on this page are mockups showing our campaign in context. We have three billboards in mind, which are shown on this page, but will run more with more funding.
About the transit ads
We can purchase a series of prominent transit ads around the downtown Ottawa area, near Parliament, for one month. These would be a version of the billboards we already designed.
Why this GoFundMe?
The internet, and Reddit in particular, have proven that powerless and unorganized masses can come together and create a big real-world impact. Look at Wall Street Bets. Look at GameStop. This is what's motivating us. We want to go bigger and make a real change, enabled by the small efforts of thousands of allies. Thanks for chipping in.
Will it work
Hell yeah.
Organizer
Carson Meyer
Organizer
Toronto, ON
