Thinking Beyond the Market: Rethinking Canada’s Housing Crisis

Have we been asking the wrong questions about the housing crisis?

A new documentary by Dr. Brian Doucet in the School of Planning investigates, asking: what if it’s not just a question of how much housing, but what kind of housing and for whom?

Thinking Beyond the Market is about genuinely affordable housing and takes a cross-Canada look at the programs and projects that are already happening and creating a positive impact on addressing the housing crisis. From using public land to build non-market housing in Kitchener and Whistler, and inspiring Indigenous-led projects in Vancouver, to strong tenant protections and rent control in British Columbia and Prince Edward Island, the examples featured demonstrate how many solutions are making a difference in communities big and small. Interviews with policymakers, developers, residents and housing advocates inspire and challenge viewers to think about both the root causes of the housing crisis and transformative solutions.

“I’ve long worked to bring my academic research into broader public, political, planning and policy conversations,” he said. “The ability to make a documentary film about housing is the ultimate way to bridge the ever-increasing divide between university scholarships and the people who make, shape and experience cities. I hope this film enhances existing conversations and begins new ones in communities across Canada and beyond.”

At Waterloo, Dr. Doucet’s work critically examines housing, gentrification, displacement, transportation and neighbourhood change. Born and raised in Toronto, he lived in the Netherlands from 2004 to 2017, where he received his PhD in geography from Utrecht University in 2010. Since returning to Canada in 2017, he has held a Canada Research Chair, been awarded six major SSHRC research grants and was a 2025 winner of the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance Teaching Excellence Award. He is the co-author of the award-nominated book, Streetcars and the Shifting Geographies of Toronto: a visual analysis of change, and a co-editor of the four-volume book series Global Reflections on COVID-19 and Urban Inequalities, both of which sought to bring academic insights into broader debates.

The next screening of Thinking Beyond the Market is happening at the Princess Twin Cinema in Waterloo on Sunday, November 16, at 12:30 p.m., with subsequent showings in Newmarket, Halifax and an international screening in Zlin, Czechia.