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Posted Oct 25, 2019, 4:57 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Nov 2003
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We've got a new entry in the history of the housing crisis (at the bottom of this list):
Quote:
Daily Colonist
March 10, 1946
Housing Delays
Under the caption of "What's holding up housing," The Financial Post last week summarized present conditions across Canada as disappointing, and without the results that this nation had looked for.
"Looked at from any angle, Government attempts so far to solve the housing crisis have fallen tragically short of the mark..."
"Today we have scores of thousands of families cooped up in overcrowded living quarters and the situation is getting more desperate every week...
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Quote:
Daily Colonist
October 15, 1967
Housing Crisis Stymies B.C.
Trade Minister Loffmark appearing on television recently, made some viewers angry when he called public housing projects "ghettoes." He claims they relegate a growing number of Canadians to the status of perpetual renters and make the government a landlord, both bad.
Attorny General Bonner... made it clear that public housing is viewed with considerable official disfavor here.
...in the end it is Ottawa -- not B.C. -- which holds the key to the housing crisis.
...the question is really the basic one of whether Canadians shall continue to own their own homes or whether we become a nation of tenants.
...the prospects of the average working man owning his own home today are so remote as to be practically out of sight.
B.C. spokesmen obviously see a diminishing role for the single family dwelling in Victoria and Vancouver. They would like to encourage more self-owned apartments and row houses, and last session passed a Strata Titles Act which permits this.
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Quote:
Daily Colonist
December 6, 1967
City, Candidates Looking for Votes
(one candidate's statment below)
"I believe that we must also face our housing crisis realistically. The present city program of urban renewal and slum clearance is not progressing quickly enough."
(aastra says: it progressed pretty damn quickly in the Blanshard-Rose neighbourhood and in the Cormorant Street section of Chinatown -- the former to facilitate the city's Blanshard Street extension and the latter to facilitate the city's Centennial Square project)
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Quote:
Daily Colonist
December 12, 1967
B.C. Starts Blitz on Homes Crisis
Establishment of a central housing authority, involving all three levels of government, to attack the acute housing crisis in BC was announced Monday by the provincial government.
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Quote:
Daily Colonist
March 6, 1968
Victorians Tackle Homes Crisis
The Community Welfare Council has announced plans for a meeting of organizations interested in solutions to Victoria's housing crisis.
The council will meet Friday to draw up an agenda...
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Quote:
Daily Colonist
August 31, 1968
Rent Controls Suggested to Solve Housing Crisis
Governments may be forced into rent control until the housing crisis is solved, Saaanich Ald. Edith Gunning suggested Friday.
Big Problem
"I don't know what to do until there are enough houses available, except to go into rent control."
Older Homes
"Saanich has tried to do something by buying older houses to rent to low-income families, but that seems to be falling through because there are no suitable houses on the market."
"There are so many factors beyond our control -- high land prices, and high interest costs are the main ones. I've never been in favor of rent controls, but you wonder what else can be done to keep rents at a reasonable level."
...the crisis has reached such proportions that all reasonable solutions will have to be considered.
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Quote:
Daily Colonist
January 7, 1969
Pump-Priming Fund Urged for City Housing
- Saanich sets up council committee to tackle housing crises; Oak Bay's future tied to townhouses and garden courts
Mayor Hugh Stephen proposed Monday that Victoria set up a $150,000 pump-priming fund that could result in construction of $3,000,000 worth of low-rental housing in the city.
Among the mayor's proposals for this year were:
- a new zoning concept for downtown development
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Quote:
Daily Colonist
April 2, 1969
Rigid Bylaws Blamed for House Shortage
A Victoria architect-planner - D.M. Cowin - Tuesday blamed the housing crisis on municipalities because of their rigid bylaws and told Saanich housing committee that its municipality was one of the worst offenders.
The committee later was less than enthusiastic about Mr. Cowin's proposal for helping to ease the housing crisis in Saanich by the construction of at least 20 patio dwelling units.
He said Transport Minister Paul Hellyer's housing report stressed the need for freedom of choice but a home-seeker has only two options - "a single-family residence at a cost he can't afford or a filing cabinet unsuitable for family living."
He said it was time to base calculations on people instead of on buildings and to set performance standards determining the number of persons per acre, the minimum open areas per person, the distance between opposite windows and the capacities of streets and services.
The patio housing proposal calls for the use of "industrialized" (prefabricated) houses which would be assembled on the building site at a saving of from 12/5 to 15 per cent of conventional costs.
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Quote:
Daily Colonist
September 7, 1969
"There's No Place to Go in City"
Rent increases, apathy, shortage of housing hit pensioners, Indians, people with children
"Landlords are becoming extortionists, helped by the housing crisis, the tearing down of older houses..."
The bitter comment came Saturday from a 70-year-old pensioner who can either leave his housekeeping room or pay a $5 a month rent increase.
"Please don't use my name, or I shall get an eviction notice, and there's just no place to go in the city," he added.
The pensioner was just one more victim of a housing crisis which hit Victoria about three years ago...
...there's a need for about 1,200 housing units in Victoria, and today's bleak picture is unlikely to change at least during the next two years.
Other families, unable to pay high rents or unacceptable to landlords because they have children or pets, are doubling up in substandard accommodation.
...rent for apartments, duplexes, houses and housekeeping rooms is being increased two or three times a year, while older houses are being torn down to make way for expensive apartment blocks.
"I don't quite know who they're going to put into the new apartment blocks,"
"The pensioners can't afford to go in, and people with children wouldn't be allowed, even if they could pay the rent."
The destruction of older houses that have been used as suites for families and housekeeping rooms for pensioners distresses both the elderly and those who work in housing.
"There just aren't enough houses now, and these people who are moved out to make way for apartments have no place to go,"
"So many places that are for rent are only temporary because they are to be pulled down for apartments,"
Silver Threads director... also complained about spiralling rents, temporary housing, and tenement-like conditions.
"The plaster has been off the walls, linoleum torn, and not a lick of paint on the places. The landlord will say openly that he has no intention of doing anything, and he doesn't care if he rents or not."
"A city lot will sell for $7,000 to $8,000, so it really doesn't matter too much to him,"
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Quote:
Daily Colonist
September 14, 1969
Efforts for Two Years May Ease House Crisis
Efforts are being made by both government and private agencies to solve Victoria's housing crisis, and the worst problems could be over in about two years time, says Victoria assistant city manager William Hooson.
...the first limited-dividend building in Victoria will be a 20-storey apartment at Fort and Quadra, intended mainly for pensioners.
(aastra says: also known as View Towers)
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Quote:
Daily Colonist
September 14, 1969
Squeeze Is On
High Density Inevitable
The housing squeeze tightened up another notch Monday, when the federal government's Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation interest rates go up to 9.5 per cent.
The day of the single-family home, so long considered the natural aspiration of everyone, may be just about over in Canada, said Mr. Jackson (Philip G. Jackson, president of Victoria Real Estate Board).
Condominium housing -- in effect, row housing or apartments put up for shared ownership rather than for rent -- may be the only way for the average man to own his own four walls in the future...
But in Canada condominium housing is a relatively new idea and lending institutions are not used to it.
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Quote:
Daily Colonist
September 24, 1976
Question answered with suite bonanza
There are signs that the housing shortage in Victoria will be greatly relieved -- if not eliminated -- in the next 12 months.
The housing construction boom expected to begin shortly will produce at estimated 2,000 apartment units. The city's engineering department is processing about $60 million worth of buildings permit applications.
...the 2,000 units would "make a sizeable dent" in the city's housing shortage.
There are 34 or 35 projects involved, comprising the 2,000 units: all projects are of the four-storey frame construction type.
All will have reasonably-priced rental accommodation because they will be partly financed by federal low-interest money.
City officials say there isn't a condominium project among the 34.
Builders feared that the commission might rule against the four storeys, allowing only three-storey frame buildings.
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Quote:
Globe and Mail
20 March 1980
REPORT ON CANADA CMHC study
Greater Vancouver has the most serious housing shortage in North America, says a study released by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.
The corporation also disclosed that: Victoria and Vancouver rank first and second in Canada for the lowest vacancy rate.
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Quote:
Vancouver Sun
19 October 1989
Housing Crisis Rally
Dozens of families are expected to march on Victoria city hall this morning. They want council to use its influence to get the province to ban adult-only apartment buildings. The rally is sponsored by Citizens for Affordable Housing, a citizens' pressure group which has grown up in response to Victoria's housing crisis.
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Quote:
The Province
22 November 1989
RENTAL CARROT: VICTORIA OFFERS RATE CUT TO DEVELOPERS
Victoria is handing out $20 million to B.C. developers to build about 2,000 rental-housing units.
But critics say the scheme will do more for developers than for people needing affordable housing.
New Democratic Party housing critic Robin Blencoe said the plan will do nothing to create affordable housing in the province.
"All this does is build housing units that most British Columbians can't afford, and it uses taxpayers' dollars to do it," said the Victoria MLA. "This isn't a trickle-down theory - it's a drip."
"It really will do virtually nothing to ease the housing crisis," he said.
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Quote:
Vancouver Sun
28 February 1990
Victoria, municipalities agree to seek solutions to rental housing crisis
The provincial government and the Union of B.C. Municipalities came to a meeting of the minds Tuesday over the housing crisis, and have agreed to jointly look at solutions, UBCM president Len Traboulay said.
...the provincial review, which will be conducted between the UBCM and staff from the ministries of municipal affairs, social services and housing, finance and labor and consumer services, are aimed at shepherding amending legislation through the next sitting of the legislature.
Those changes will hopefully address secondary suites, affordability and availability of suites, rent review and elimination of discrimination against couples with children...
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Quote:
Vancouver Sun
02 August 1990
B.C. rental crisis worst in country: Situation 'gross' for Victoria, Vancouver
The rental housing crisis in Victoria and Vancouver is worse than anywhere else in Canada, a new study shows.
"For renters, the situation appears to be deteriorating,"
...the proportion of renters paying more than 30 per cent of their gross incomes for housing was higher in Greater Victoria than anywhere else in Canada.
...about 20 per cent of Victoria renters were paying more than half their gross income for rent.
Social planners generally say no one should have to pay more than 30 per cent of their income for housing.
...48 per cent of Victoria's renters were in fact paying more than that. In Vancouver, the figure was 45 per cent.
...the problem has worsened in the past year or so because "rent increases are generally outpacing incomes."
...the problem is likely to continue to worsen because the region is facing a severe shortage of land zoned and serviced for rental housing.
The average rent increase in the past year has been 11 per cent.
...municipalities should require new subdivisions and housing projects to include 20 per cent of their units as "affordable rental units."
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Quote:
Vancouver Sun
August 10, 1991
Victoria renters last on list to buy 1st home
Quick. Which Canadian city has the lowest percentage of renters who can afford a starter home?
Vancouver and Toronto would be good guesses but you'd be wrong. The correct answer is Victoria, home of the newly-wed and the restfully retired.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. statistics show just nine per cent of Victoria renters can afford to buy a starter house. Toronto has the next lowest figure, at 17.7 per cent, while just 17.9 per cent of Vancouver renters can afford to buy.
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Quote:
Vancouver Sun
29 May 1993
Trouble in the Garden: Behind Victoria's grand facade lies a crisis in affordable housing
CRISIS? WHAT CRISIS?
...all's quiet down on the waterfront in the James Bay district overlooking the inner harbor, where... the classy, brick-faced Harbourside condo towers are all sold out save for a couple of suites for $320,000 and $580,000.
Yet across town... Kaye Melliship, intense and intelligent, is fighting a lone and losing battle to generate more affordable housing and stave off what she perceives as the "serious housing crisis" that has Victoria in its grip.
A planner with the Capital Region Housing Corp., Melliship says she can't find any affordable housing for her waiting list of 1,060 families, 361 seniors and 154 disabled people who, for a variety of reasons, require less expensive accommodation.
"There is a vast need for affordable housing right now in Victoria. We know that 20,000 to 30,000 households are paying too much for their housing and could require some assistance to make ends meet," she says.
Defining affordable as the ability for low- and moderate-income families to have rental and ownership opportunities that cost 30 per cent or less of their income, she points out that Victoria is the most difficult city in Canada for people to get out of renting and buy their own place.
Only 7.5 per cent of renters in Victoria can afford to buy a house or condominium of their own compared with 20.5 per cent in Vancouver, 27 per cent in Toronto and 35 per cent in Montreal.
She sees a number of barriers to affordable housing:
* Lack of municipal policies, plans and strategies.
* A dramatic cut in capital funds from senior government for non-market housing.
* High cost of land and absence of land servicing.
* No-growth policies in communities due to constraints in the capacity of infrastructure and community values.
* Lengthy development approval processes.
Les Bjola, president of Victoria Real Estate Board, agrees that there is a great need for more affordable housing, but he believes the problem stems from two key issues: an increasing shortage of developable land and the lack of quality regional planning.
"The land shortage is even more pronounced here than in Vancouver...
Melliship and Bjola are concerned about the way 1,200 acres of land in the Tod Inlet area and 1,800 acres south in the Highlands district of Langford will ultimately be developed. They would like to see the land developed in a way that permits higher densities, which would generate more affordable housing.
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Quote:
Times-Colonist
March 23, 1995
Victoria renters having trouble paying
Nearly half the tenants in Victoria may be having difficulty finding the rent, federal bean-counters said Tuesday.
With about 44 per cent of all renters experiencing "housing affordability problems" in 1991, Victoria ranked highest of 25 centres surveyed, Statistics Canada said.
That's no surprise for Victoria renters. "Victoria is the hardest place anywhere in Canada for tenants to find a place to live and they have the least chance of escaping tenancy," said Mike Walker of the Tenants Rights Coalition. "There is nowhere else in the country where things are so bad."
Walker said it's "sad" the federal government has removed itself from the affordable-housing business. "For what we have in B.C., crisis isn't the right word any more."
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Quote:
Times-Colonist
08 July 2002
It's tough finding rental units: Proposed revisions to tenancy act could make situation worse
For students and other renters on a tight budget... finding a place to live in Victoria is difficult.
Peggy Prill, a market analyst with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation calls Victoria a "constrained" market.
When the corporation measured the vacancy rate of the region's rentals last October, it sat at 0.5 per cent -- that's equal to 130 of the region's 26,000 units available.
A healthy vacancy rate is at about two per cent, she said.
Prill said there are many reasons for the housing shortage.
The problem is compounded by the fact there have been no new rental units built for over 20 years and population has grown steadily, especially among students who return to the city for school each September.
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Quote:
Times Colonist
January 14, 2005
City council rejects second application for James Bay towers
Victoria council showed little appetite Thursday for new residential towers in James Bay when it rejected two proposals for apartment buildings.
Reg Stewart and his family wanted to build the first private-sector rental accommodation in the neighbourhood since the 1970s. However, council rejected rezoning applications by companies linked to the family for 16-storey and 12-storey towers opposed by most neighbouring residents.
Mark Johnston, a consultant and former city administrator representing the Stewarts, said the projects would provide badly needed rental accommodation for the city.
The proposed towers would have gone up next to the existing buildings developed by the Stewarts several decades ago -- the Goodacre Towers, Regent Towers and Charter House buildings. Their proposal also offered $400,000 for the James Bay New Horizons seniors centre for a food-services facility.
The city planning department said this fell way short of the $3-million cash benefit required under the city's "density bonus" policy...
Mayor Alan Lowe said while the city needs more rental accommodation, the proposals were "too big and too dense." Towers built in the 1970s could no longer serve as the model for James Bay...
Coun. Pamela Madoff said that neighbourhood was effectively "downzoned" in the 1970s after residents complained about too many tall buildings...
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Quote:
CBC News
November 10, 2006
Victoria launches homelessness strategy
Victoria city council has invited anti-poverty activists to work on its new housing strategy committee, which will try to come up with solutions for the estimated 2,000 homeless in the capital.
...councillors prepared to hear from dozens of people who have been lobbying council for less talk and more action.
But after hearing from just one speaker, Coun. Sonya Chandler announced plans to create a housing strategy committee, and invited the ad hoc citizens group to join it.
"I think that there's some pretty immediate stuff that can happen, that can satisfy everybody," she told the crowd.
The group has asked the city to create 50 more emergency shelter beds and to seize abandoned buildings downtown and convert them into affordable housing units.
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Quote:
Aging population in financial limbo and a housing crisis
Times-Colonist
December 30, 2014
...thousands of Victorians are struggling to live below the poverty line, an increasing number of them approaching or well past the retirement years.
"The trend is the population in general is aging, which includes people in the poorest sectors. But there are significant affordability issues [in Victoria] as well,"
With the Victoria rental vacancy rate dropping to 1.5 per cent in October from 2.8 per cent in the same month last year and the average cost of a bachelor apartment more than $700 a month, elderly singles on a basic pension have few options.
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Quote:
CTV Vancouver Island
November 28, 2017
There's good and bad news for renters in one of the country's tightest markets: Greater Victoria's vacancy rate is slightly up – but average monthly rents have increased sharply.
New data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation shows that the capital city's overall vacancy rate has risen to 0.7 per cent.
That's up from 0.5 per cent, which was among the lowest vacancy rates in Canadian cities.
But the CMHC report says the average rent in Greater Victoria is now $1,072 – up 7.7 per cent from $994 in 2016.
It's the largest year-over-year increase since 1991, and CMHC says it mirrors accelerated prices in the home ownership market.
"Metro Victoria's rental market remains tight. Supply has not kept up with population growth and a shift away from homeownership," senior market analyst Braden Batch said...
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Quote:
Times-Colonist
February 17, 2019
Comment: Step up or step aside, developers
The rapid price escalation of real estate has effectively erased many first-time homebuyers’ downpayments, and where the flow of renters into homeownership has frozen, adding to the competition for rental units.
With a generation shut out of homeownership, and competition for rentals fierce, people with any sign that they are different don’t have a snowball's chance in hell of securing a place to live.
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Quote:
Times-Colonist
October 25, 2019
...council wasn't in the middle of a housing crisis when it approved the official community plan in 2012 or it might look far different today.
"Putting this amount of housing and this amount of density on this site responds to the housing crisis..."
(article: "Victoria council OKs four-tower Harris Green project that includes fire hall and housing")
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Last edited by aastra; Nov 29, 2019 at 7:12 PM.
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