Sunday, October 01, 2017
Has The Middle Already Disappeared From Lotusland?
I'm not really sure.
However, I do know that in my business, where the compensation packages are healthy (thanks in large part to the longstanding concerted efforts of a professional 'association' many of my colleagues refuse to call a union), cost of living issues make recruitment incredibly difficult. Given that, how does a family where the parents are school teachers or bus drivers, or dental assistants even begin to make a go of it?
This is something that Stephen Quinn has been thinking and talking about recently. Yesterday, he wrote about it too. Below is his lede, but I highly recommend you click on through on this one so that you can read the entire thing:
Earlier this month, when my 8-year-old returned to school to begin Grade 4, four of his friends were gone. The twins had moved to Ottawa, and his buddy, who has shared after-school care with him since he started school, went off to Vancouver Island. The family of the fourth boy moved to Nelson. All of them lived within walking distance of his east-side school. All of their parents were gainfully employed professionals. I don't know the details or the motive behind each of the moves, but this week when I moderated a panel discussion for UBC called "Can we raise children in Vancouver?" I thought immediately about the decision those parents had made...
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Personally, I enjoy reading Mr. Quinn's satirical bits in the Globe but, given his insight and empathy, I like it even better when he plays it straight...I think we could use more of that from our local proMedia these days....Much more.
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2 comments:
Ah yes the inverted bell curve.CSIS and RCMP warned us.?
Its interesting you write on this subject because Harvey Oberveld's has written on the same subject, more from a rental perspective, but there a more than a few comments.
Perhaps the housing shortage is simply because the government didn't want to deal with the issue. Now living in Vancouver requires an income of $600K per year. A condo of 450 sq. ft. goes for $485K and a town houses and apartments go for $600K and up in the burbs. Add on the commuting costs and its time to bail.
people move because they want some quality of life and not having to put all their money into a house. Renting is also expensive because not only is a lot of stock being taken out by air b n b but because renters are staying renters these days. At one time renters became home owners. Now not so much.
How the cost of houses became so high may well be explained by your earlier article regarding Sam Cooper's articles regarding money laundering. Many of these houses are sitting empty as are apartments. What gives.
However, it may be interesting to see what is going to happen in Richmond. since the NDP was elected, it is rumoured many have left and returned to their country of origin, leaving their houses here empty. If they go up for sale, it would be even more interesting.
the time has come to recognize we as Canadians have the right to decent housing before people from other countries use our housing market as a laundry machine or investment portfolio.
When Doctors start leaving Greater Vancouver because they can't afford a house, we have a problem.
When a young couple with a baby are out $4100 each month for rent and day care, do you really think they will stay in Vancouver? How do they get ahead? How do they save?
WE need a little balance in our housing market or we simply will wind up living in tents and as we are already seeing, in van conversions which were once for going on vacation.
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