OTTAWA — As Ottawa gears up to launch a new agency to build homes faster, internal government documents describe how dire the housing situation has become in Canada.

Briefing materials prepared for incoming Housing Minister Gregor Robertson this past May and released this week acknowledge that costly housing is hurting the economy and making it difficult for people to find places to live.

"Vulnerable populations and lower-income households are struggling to have their basic housing needs met due to a lack of suitable affordable housing," the documents say.

Middle-class Canadians are also struggling to buy homes and are staying in rental units longer, "placing additional pressures on rental supply and increasing rental costs."

Andy Yan, an urban planning professor at Simon Fraser Univer

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