Housing is an important political issue. Politicians and experts now talk about it as a major crisis that could threaten our economic and social well-being. But this is nothing new. Another housing crisis raged at the beginning of the 20th century.

Back then, it concerned working-class slums. Today, it's much more widespread: many households are struggling to acquire property, while others are spending too much of their income on rent, and still others are living in substandard housing, or simply have nowhere to live.

As a specialist in the history of urban planning and a full professor at the Université de Montréal's School of Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture, I hear arguments today that are similar to those made 120 years ago, although there are new elements now. 

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