Finally, this entire situation has manifested because housing has been permitted to be treated as optional.

housing has been permitted to be treated as a speculative investment asset. FTFY.

In general I agree with your post, but would add: No corporations (including trusts etc. which are mostly tax dodges these days, clean up and formalize the valid use cases and then outlaw the rest) should be allowed to own in the residential housing market, real people only. Same for foreign ownership. Increasingly penalize via taxation (the more properties you own, the more you pay) owning more than a principal residence. We need some (cheap, 25% of income as you say) rental properties for people starting out, moving around etc., but the investment side of ownership has gotten way out of hand. It's a worldwide (western) issue precipitated by neoliberalism (aka rampant greed), but it can be addressed locally, and with the property market topping out at the moment (apparently, the market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent), it's a good time to start.