‘Record-high house prices and household indebtedness’ in Canada has prompted the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to urge that government-back mortgage insurance rules should be tightened and other measures taken to “cool down the market”. The advice comes in the OECD’s September 2010 economic survey for Canada. The OECD report confirms deep insecurity in Canada’s ownership housing market and its policy recommendations, if followed, will make it harder for low and moderate-income households to buy a home. The OECD’s candid assessment underlines the urgent need for a comprehensive national affordable housing strategy that targets precariously housed Canadians who are finding it increasingly difficult to find a good place to call home in either the ownership or the private rental housing markets. The Wellesley Institute’s Precarious Housing in Canada 2010 sets out current and research research and provides a policy prescription.