Comments on: BC’s Urban Housing (Un)affordability

By: Mt Pleasant dweller

Mt Pleasant dweller — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 01:12:39 +0000

The city of Vancouver is not really committed to reasonable housing costs:

I had hopes that the rental units above the new Mt Pleasant Community Centre at Kingsway and Main would be reasonably priced and so contacted the city a while ago to find out how to get on the wait list. they told me back in the fall that the building management was going to be handled by Colliers real estate.

Today I saw an ad on Craigslist for the building and called the number.

Starting at $1200 for a one bedroom apartment. I realize that it’s not low income housing, but really, City of Vancouver – is that the best you can do? grrrr That’s about $200 more than the median rent for a downtown apt.

By: Iglika Ivanova

Iglika Ivanova — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 23:49:17 +0000

I agree with Ali that calling a 270 square feet shoebox a solution to the lack of affordable rental housing in Vancouver is an insult. Particularly when you’re planning to charge $750 for rent on average. Apparently, the developers are quoted saying that the cheapest unit (which is going to go for $675 per month or $8,100 per year) is affordable to somebody making $25,000 per year or $12.50 per hour on the standard 2,000 work year.

Spending 1/3 of your income on rent which probably excludes utilities is hardly affordable. To make matters worse, many young, single service workers I know – which are supposedly the target market along with students – are having trouble getting work that pays $12.50 per hour, let alone being able to get 2,000 hours per year on the job. And students? Only if they come from wealthy families.

By: Ali

Ali — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:54:21 +0000

Great post. The Liberal government has definitely followed a laissez-faire approach where they have “let the markets decide”. I agree that the government should intervene. On another issue, the announcement yesterday of the Micro-Lofts development near Pigeon Park which are being billed as Vancouver’s newest “affordable” housing units, is sickening. We need REAL incentives from the government to developers to build low income subsidized housing. People who are on social assistance cannot afford to rent a suite in these so-called affordable housing units. I worry that this another step towards the gentrification of the DTES.

By: Crunchy Carpets

Crunchy Carpets — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:38:32 +0000

This is what I am ranting about on my site!
Vancouver needs a mix of affordable housing. Bring back subsidies for co-operative developments, rentals, townhomes etc. There needs to be a mix of types of housing.
And yes. The incomes need to be addressed. The availability of types of employment need to be addressed.
We need to encourage more than just real estate and drug lords to this city.
We need to be a city that encourages business and industry and then the people that can work for them.
The middle class is being pushed out of Vancouver. There is no place affordable to live and no jobs with decent wages either.