As a lifelong Yukoner, I have seen the dream of homeownership slip away for many young people.

After hearing from hundreds of Yukoners while door-knocking these past weeks, I am deeply concerned this affordability crisis is driving away those who have helped build our territory.

While multiple factors contribute, a key issue is the government's land development approach. Rather than prioritizing land that people can afford, government policies inflate costs, worsening shortages and skyrocketing prices. Worse, government profits from their land sales
are not reinvested in housing or supporting infrastructure; like upgrading roads such as Mountain View Drive or water and sewer systems in Porter Creek. Instead, they flow into general revenues, funding anything like, even extravagances like flying grand pianos to mountaintops.

These government decisions are pricing Yukoners out of their own territory.

The government's method for releasing land for townhomes and multi-residential developments is flawed. As the main developer of major subdivisions, it uses blind auctions that foster cutthroat competition, unnecessarily inflating prices. This is not the fault of builders —they are desperate for work amid starved supply of lots and must bid aggressively to stay afloat and pay their bills.

In 2024, for example, the average minimum price for townhome lots was just over $310 per square meter. Auctions drove the average sale to nearly $460 per square meter—a 48% jump.

In real terms, a row of six townhomes, priced at $476,000, sold for $702,000. This markup, while generating profit for the government, is paid by buyers, fueling out-of-control housing costs.

This is a deliberate policy choice. To improve affordability, we must reform it with stable, fair pricing that boosts development, gets people working, and eases entry to the housing market for young buyers.

By 2025, things have deteriorated further. On September 4, the government released Whitehorse land lottery and tender packages late in our short building season—ensuring bids, permits, and construction delay most new homes until next summer. This bottleneck restricts supply and
hikes prices further.

What’s worse, this year’s pricing reveals a deeper disconnect: 2024's average minimum for townhome lots was $310 per square meter; in 2025, it's over $477—a 54% hike in the cost of land in just one year. Builders won't absorb this.  The costs will ultimately be passed onto families looking to buy a home, deepening the crisis.

Even single-detached lots, sold via lottery, show escalating costs: a 12% price increase year-over-year, with average sizes of this lots shrinking by 5.8%. This is shrinkflation: Yukoners are being forced to pay more for less.

It doesn't have to be this way.

With comprehensive reforms, better release timing, improved infrastructure planning, and reduced red tape; we can lower land costs and build homes faster.

Imagine a Yukon where families can afford to build roots again. A place where everyone, including those who’ve called this territory home for generations, can thrive, raise their family, or grow old while playing with their grandchildren.

I am proud to be running as part of Currie Dixon’s Yukon Party team and am excited for our upcoming transformative announcements to overhaul land and housing development, build more homes, improve fairness and predictability, get the private sector working, while investing
in infrastructure and cutting red tape.

Together, we can deliver change.