August, along with other eight University of Waterloo researchers, Early Research Award winners received a grant worth $1.12 million. The program, publicly funded through the Government of Ontario, aids recently appointed researchers to build their research teams.
August’s research explains the financialization of multifamily rentals and how real estate investment trusts (REITs) have grown to own 10 per cent of apartments in Canada. She and other researchers will receive $140,000 over five years plus an additional $50,000 from the University.
“I argue that neoliberal restructuring, government policy, and financial innovations created conditions for profitable reinvestment,” said August. “In each suite, tenants are exposed to the logics of finance capital, where ‘repositioning’ strategies generate profits via displacing existing tenants and treating housing like any other market good, rather than a human right.”
The selection process for this award includes criteria such as the excellence of the researcher, quality of the proposal, development of research talent and the benefits this research will bring to Ontario.
To learn more about this award visit Government of Ontario.