The housing crisis lives rent free in the heads of these voters in Ontario

Iuri Rezende Souza said he can carry two apartments in his hometown in Brazil, but in Kitchener, Ont., where he now lives, he can't even afford a down payment.

"What I can afford is basically vacant lands," the Kitchener Centre voter told CBC News.

Souza said his best path to home ownership since arriving in Canada five years ago would be to buy a vacant lot and put a trailer on it.

"My mom said: 'If you're living in a trailer, what's the point of moving to Canada? You should just move back,'" said Souza.

With home prices and rental rates continuing to climb in the country, Souza isn't alone. He's just one of many respondents to a CBC News election survey that found housing is what matters most to them during this campaign for the April 28 vote.

For Canadians hoping to buy their first home, the message is clear — they want action from Ottawa and they want it now.

Souza isn't convinced federal politicians are doing enough to address the issue, saying their focus is elsewhere.

"This total disconnect between everything else and housing is a sign," he said. "Things are really bad."

This viewpoint is shared by Chris Lozinski of Richmond Hill, Ont. He's working to finish his studies at the University of Guelph, where he plans to vote.

"I'm rather disappointed with a lot of the major platforms because I feel like the majority of them don't address the cause of the housing crisis," he said.

Lozinski feels home ownership for Gen Z Canadians will be near impossible "without their parents either selling off their house or handing it down."

Lozinski said he's worried the type of housing being completed isn't suitable for most people's budgets.

"They're not geared towards first-time buyers," he said. "They're starting from like $1 million upwards.

"I've never seen that much money in my life."