Their premise is that the free market drove up the price of houses. Deregulation that is to say end of social housing programs led to this. Is that not neo-liberal? High construction costs come mainly from high cost of labor. The market driving up costs isn’t free market? What protectionist policies are there? When have property values been under threat of dropping. They’ve been ever increasing due to market demand. You say “lack of good investment”. Others say investors determined housing was a prime investment. Ditto for your last point.
a bunch of 5-over-1 in mixed zoning
What does this even mean?
We’ve just seen that stepping aside is pointless without a popular candidate to step up. Neither the Liberals nor the NDP have anyone.