| |
Posted Apr 15, 2019, 6:17 PM
|
 |
Registered User
|
|
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 2,317
|
|
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/cana...rdability-2019
Quote:
To some, ‘affordable housing’ ends up becoming parental housing.
A 2018 study from GWL Realty Advisors, which drew on data from the 2016 Canadian Census, found that Toronto had 279,000 adults ages 25 to 39 still living with their parents (22% of that age cohort). In Vancouver, that percentage was 18% (92,000 adult children living with their parents), and Calgary reported 10% of adult children ages 25-39 living with parents at the time of the census.
|
The most important part of the article:
Quote:
It is estimated that over the course of 2015 to 2017, Toronto added an annual average of 14,000 new apartment rental homes that are purpose-built rentals and/or rental condos, however, to meet demand Toronto needs to add or have vacated 25,000 rental homes, each year, according to the report from GWL. Vancouver needs to make 12,000 rental units available per year, but over the past three years the city has only amassed 3,400 new rental homes, annually.
In short: Supply is not meeting the demand. Not even close.
The 2016 Canadian Census found that 53% of new condos built from 2011 to 2016 were being used as rental housing in Toronto, while Vancouver’s add of 3,400 was dispersed between condo rental (2,600) and purpose-built rental (800) per year from 2016 to 2017.
|
Holy- Vancouver needed 3.14x the number of rental housing over the past 3 years?
No wonder none of the rentals are affordable!  3 people on average are competing for ONE new rental! (btw, this doesn't include potential latent demand from people who would otherwise buy or leave their parents' housing earlier.)
I seriously hope logic and facts will prevail and actually trying to meet rental demand is going to be given much higher priority than rental price hike limits, because if this was any other industry, investors would be in absolute frenzy mode.
Speaking of which:
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/opin...rdability-2019
Quote:
In communities across BC, local councils make decisions every week that makes it more difficult to buy affordable homes. They impose red tape and regulations that make it harder and more costly to build homes. It is a fact that in many communities, it now takes longer to get a project approved and permitted than it does to build it. This is a stunning indictment of the ability of unchecked local councils to make life more unaffordable for homebuyers.
Take North Vancouver District for example. Newly elected Mayor Mike Little and most of his council have decided the way to bring about affordable housing is by rejecting virtually all new housing applications, including, unbelievably, non-profit affordable housing.
Shortly after their election last November, Council shot down an 80-unit affordable housing project by Catalyst Community Developments Society – a non-profit housing group. The project, two years in the making, involved the District contributing land in the form of a parking lot at the former Delbrook Recreation Centre. In return, Catalyst would build the project and offer the 80 units at approximately 20% below market rents.
Mayor Little led a 5-2 vote on Council to defeat the project, even though the proposal won an award for engaging the community.
Next up was the non-profit Hollyburn Family Services project. Hollyburn spent years putting together a 100-unit affordable housing project on district-owned land at Burr Place. The goal? All units would be offered at below market rates to provide desperately needed housing for low income seniors, families and youth.
North Vancouver District Council voted to kill the project during a closed-door meeting, before plans for it could be shared with the public. Again, it was a 5-2 vote, led by Little. In a bizarre comment following the vote, Little said that he campaigned not on creating affordable housing but on social housing!
With successive provincial governments sitting idly on the sidelines, similar stories play out in too many communities across BC.
Whether it’s a new seniors centre, a townhome complex, high-rise or a new road, as soon as a project is proposed the forces of “no” rally for the status quo and “more consultation.” Traffic, noise, views and quality of life are trotted out at council meeting after council meeting wrapped up in a dystopian narrative that sends local councils running in full retreat.
In the middle of a full-blown housing affordability crisis, one might think city halls would be focused on increasing supply, reducing red tape and making it easier to bring housing stock on the market faster in an effort to reduce the pressure on the prices of homes.
Unfortunately, we see more “Nero fiddling” and buck-passing than city halls acting with the speed, purpose and boldness required to make a real difference in the local housing market. The actions of councils like North Vancouver District demonstrate that for families looking for relief at city hall, the wait will be long indeed.
|
Mind you, mostly from D. of N. Van, so not 100% relevant, but let's face it, it can be applied to a more limited extent (or in the case of West Van, the opposite  ) across the region.
|
|
|
Prev
Linear Mode
