The Canadian housing market has reached a “very high degree of vulnerability,” heard the House of Commons Finance Committee Friday as it met to discuss inflation and the significant increase in housing cost. This vulnerability assessment was made by Romy Bowers, president and CEO of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CHMC), Canada’s housing agency. “Housing affordability is our top concern. We’ve mobilized all our resources to address it,” Bowers said. “We’re doing this because the current trend of escalating house prices is worse than at any other time over the past 30 years. It hasn’t slowed despite the economic uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, growth in house prices has accelerated over the past 18 months.” Bowers said the problem isn’t just affecting homeowners; the rise of real estate has an impact on rent, which affects the more vulnerable. “Some 13 percent of Canadian households are in poor …