differentsidesofhousing

[differentsidesofhousing]

The good ol days

Vancouver. Evans, Coleman & Evans Wharf at the Foot of Columbia Street, abt.1900

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From the greed-infested, over-densified mess that is downtown Vancouver B.C.

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NOT IN MY BACKYARD

Two weeks notice, I told my tenant. They missed last month's bill. These people need to work hard and take care of their responsibilities! Nothing in this life is free. When they move out, I can list it for rent for hundreds more than they’d pay. Mark to Market! Back in the day I worked hard, I saved my paycheque and I bought a small house, and then continued to work hard and bought a bigger one, and then a second and a third. All these new high rises coming into my neighborhood are not welcome! It's noisy, I can’t find a spot to park by the bank anymore, and the gym at the community center is packed. Not that I use it anyways, since I go to the private club. The character of the neighborhood is being eroded, and so is the community. Let me and my friends and the people who’ve been here for decades live in peace. I understand people need a place to live, but what is wrong with the rest of the province, or the rest of the country? If you can’t afford the most beautiful city in Canada, live in another city until you can. It's simple. I was here first, so don’t expect a plot of land in the city to be handed to you. Before the expo 86 and the olympics any hard working Vancouverite could buy a home. But when every rich person overseas wants a piece of Vancouver, what did you think was going to happen to the price of housing? These condos are basically just rental apartments no matter what way you look at it. It doesn’t matter if the developer owns them or they're owned by an investor, most of them are just rented out anyways. If you can’t afford to buy a place, why not get another job? I worked 60 hour weeks on my business for several years. Why does the city go ahead and build towers right in my community without consulting me? My tax dollars are paying their wages. Even part of my glorious view was taken away. These developers hold more sway over city council than anyone else. These ugly monstrosities are just too high for our neighbourhoods. I wish things could be like the old days in my city.

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like the vancouver rental market is literally insane like either it’s depressing sterile studios with like a murphy bed and a kitchen with a shared bathroom down the hall for $1k or it’s people who bought their houses before the housing crisis turning their suddenly $1-3mil houses into rentals by doing absolutely NOTHING to what are essentially dilapidated uninhabitable shacks bc they’ve done NO repairs in 20-40 years and the structures are rotten through except divide it into 2-3 apartments that are all equally small, moldy, and expensive playing diy landlord because they know people are desperate enough to pay $3k for their basement “”apartment”” that is literally just the basement of a 2 story house they split in the middle so they could rent it as three separate 3k apartments instead of one 5k one. because they’re rotten people who will one day hopefully burn in whatever version of hell exists

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Vancouverites agree that the city needs more housing density, yet it’s not happening fast enough

Images of Vancouver often showcase residential towers surrounded by snow-capped mountains, beaches, and seawalls packed with cyclists and pedestrians. The city comes across as dense and packed with people living close together. This is not the reality. 

The truth is that once you leave the downtown core, Vancouver is a sleepy suburb with 81% of its residential land devoted to single-family homes, and prices that are completely out of reach for most families. I recently moved to one of these neighbourhoods, into a new duplex in a sea of single-family homes on massive lots. 

I used to live in a smaller duplex that was two blocks away from a vibrant street called Commercial Drive, surrounded by a mix of housing types. I love my new home, but being in a single family neighbourhood means bigger homes, spaced far apart. Some streets have no sidewalks and I have to cross busy arterials to get to the local park and coffee shop, which is now 8 blocks away.

I miss the walkability, energy, and friendliness of living in a more dense neighbourhood. I desperately want more people in my new neighbourhood - more duplexes, triplexes, townhomes, even low-rise apartments, including rental and co-op housing. With more people, there would hopefully come more amenities like shops and recreation - even just basics like more crosswalks and sidewalks!

Keep reading

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At least I got help from the bank of Mom and Dad

Two weeks notice. Three words I’m lucky enough to never have had to worry about. My parents helped pay my down payment for a condo right out of school. The house we grew up in went up so much in value the past few decades that they were able to downsize when I moved out and use the extra money to help me out.  It's a little bit odd to reflect on because it seems that myself and others have a tendency to worry about the next thing. Once we have our needs met in terms of food, housing, and not having to worry about how we’re going to pay the bills we worry about the next thing we don’t have, moving up Maslow's hierarchy. I feel like I've been in this box in a nice neighborhood in Vancouver, and sometimes I’m even jealous of my friends who have newer or bigger houses than me. When I take a deep breath and think about it, I am grateful. Having a roof over our heads that we’re comfortable in, and can afford is a human right, and the average home shouldn’t be treated as an asset that grows and grows to the point where some of those lucky enough to own made more on the appreciation of their home in the last year, then what they made on their job. However, housing isn’t treated as a human right nowadays, its treated as something you have to work very hard to earn. I worry that when I have kids, they won’t be able to find a half decent place to live. No one should have the mindset that they’ll never have a chance at homeownership, but that’s becoming a real reality. Vancouver does have it all, the beaches, the ocean, and weather that’s not too cold, so I understand why everyone wants their piece. Two-thirds of Canadians own their homes, and I’m lucky to be in that percentage, but for my generation and the next that percentage is going to drop drastically. Compared to high income, high priced cities like New York, San Francisco, or London, wages in Vancouver aren't that high. In Vancouver, income taxes are high but property taxes are low, and this makes it easier tax wise for people who’ve made their income overseas to purchase a home here. We’re telling people around the world to come buy real estate here, but you can earn more money elsewhere. I’d like to see policy change in a way that reinvests the profit and tax dollars made from land appreciation, and upzoning, and that money be put into making more below market housing, and making housing affordable for all in the future.

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'Just following orders' didn't fly in Nuremberg so I don't understand why the president of CUPE 1004 thinks it's an ok defense for anything else that directly leads to people dying. Union president Andrew Ledger says enforcing city bylaws is questionable during the pandemic but that's what the city says to do. As if workers, especially CUPE workers (historically one of the more militant and progressive unions in Canada), has suddenly decided workers always follow instructions.

Shoutout to grassroots groups that go unacknowledged when they successfully pressure local authorities to consider acting more humanely. I hope to see Vancouver housing everyone in need in the near future, after they stop stealing homeless peoples stuff.

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Me everytime someone says that just building more and more apartments and condos will magically solve the housing crisis and make rents cheaper.

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Submitted by @fueltransitsleep.

[differentsidesofhousing]

Politicians are leaving the middle and lower class behind.

https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/

[differentsidesofhousing]

Struggling to make it in the Vancouver Housing Market

      Two weeks notice. I’ve rented here for four years, and at the end of each month very little is left behind. Now it’s time to leave, as my notice is due. I’m dreading the search finding a new place, as prices have risen. I love the city, and my friends are close by, but when my rent money leaves my account sometimes I want to cry. I wish they’d build more, hell, I’d even take a box in the sky, as long as it's within budget. I grew up in the north, from the country to the city. Here, I don’t have a fall back. The only way my generation seems to afford a down payment is with help from their parents, not inherently fair for the children not born into wealth. To own a home in the city a couple needs to make a boatload of cash, even for a small condo the price tag is so high. Raising a family and supporting kids is becoming tougher, and tougher, and to me being rich should not be a prerequisite to having a family. If the rest of our country wasn’t so cold, I’d consider moving to another place, but I don’t know if I can deal with the frost and the snow. I want to hold on to all the connections, and all the beauty this city has to offer, but the cost of housing is a weight I don’t know if I can shake. I think it comes down to the way our economy functions. Easy credit and inflation and the asset economy driven by debt that has compounded these last few decades and driving the gap between the haves and the have nots. An entire generation, mine, is being priced out of the market. Wages versus the cost of living since the 1970s have not kept pace, and the problem is worsening. Top down planning regulations have caused the majority of our city to only allow single family dwellings, and as a result the city's housing units are vastly undersupplied. It’s incredibly difficult to find a place to rent within budget. The beauractric policies behind getting new housing developments approved slow down and increase the cost to provide more rentals. There is a certain fear of missing out when it comes to housing. The prices seem to never fall. They just keep going up and up like a rocket ship to the moon. I’ve learned to appreciate the things in this life that don't cost much or are free. It doesn’t cost me anything to take my dog on a walk in the forest, or bike around the seawall with a friend. As much as housing is a difficulty, we have so much privilege today, living in a time vastly more socially progressive and technologically advanced than just one or two generations before.