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Think this is great for Vancouver which needs more housing. The zoning is broken, and far too conservative. Glad to see the Squamish addressing a need that will

by camg55 3y ago

Think this is great for Vancouver which needs more housing. The zoning is broken, and far too conservative. Glad to see the Squamish addressing a need that will likely benefit all, and hopefully this encourages the city of Vancouver to do the same on their own accord.

spxneo 3y ago
Building more homes in Vancouver will not result in lower prices because this is not a supply problem it is the financial assetization of home equity that drives higher and higher prices. Blue collar workers turned multi-millionaires rely on the continued rise of home prices to purchase cheap credit which they use to speculate on more homes. When they couldn't find anymore locals they turned to the international market to sell their bags. Now these 20k homes ppl are celebrating are NOT going to be sold under market prices no matter how much reddit and hn crowd wants it to be true. It will only stabilize the prices at current inflated levels. Be careful what you wish for. The only type of housing they are building is not white picket fenced backyard with a shed that is being converted to homes but high/low rise apartments primarily for rental, a hotbed for crime. Since David Eby overrode the strata no-rental rules, while not responsible it resulted in huge increase in cases of squatters, petty theft, drug labs and brothels. This does not include what a retired VPD officer describes as an "Amazon of drug labs and brothels" which is familiar to vancouver high rise but now its even easier for criminals. Vice reporters were even reporting on it years ago but now these cases are accelerating since Eby stepped in a populist spirit. I'm all for alleviating housing situation but we need to stop and ask if those people who are demanding/feel entitled to it really have the necessary income to justify it. Often I see people making 60k CAD/year lamenting how they can't find a home to live in. You can't afford anything in developed urban centres except in emerging economies. So I think rather than building more housing we need to ask who really has merit to be here and the biggest determining factor is income not how long you lived in Vancouver like certain demographic of locals are suggesting which is basically dogwhistling to say the market forces should not apply to them because of their skin colour. Simply blaming this on local housing policy failure like reddit does when housing prices has been appreciating all over the world, not just Vancouver, is myopic. There are cities that are far more dense than vancouver and has even more ridiculous real estate prices. They love Vancouver and the blue collar Canadian workers that bought their homes after 6 month of work in the 70s, 80s are not desperate to sell as they have nowhere else to go. Lot of people are being setup for major disappointments if they think vancouver home prices are coming back down to 2012 prices. There is simply no way to force homeowners to sell when they have no urgency or financial stress to do so. over 50% of homeowners in Vancouver do not have mortgages.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- Seattle3503 3y ago
  It is a mistake to blame the high cost of housing on market forces. It is largely the product of local housing policy. It is a choice.
  - janalsncm 3y ago
    I think it’s both. Housing policy can help or hurt but overall many places in the world have stuggled to keep housing prices affordable.
    - smallmancontrov 3y ago
      > stuggled to keep housing prices affordable. The political system does not strive for affordability, it strives to make housing a good investment. Unaffordability is just the inevitable consequence.
    - astrange 3y ago
      Expensive housing is almost entirely an Anglo nation problem. If you don't restrict infill development you won't have this issue.
      - janalsncm 3y ago
        Housing is extremely expensive in China as well. It’s one of the main barriers to Chinese yuppies having the three kids their government wants them to.
        astrange 3y ago
        Isn't China having a real estate overproduction crisis right now? There can be different problems in different places, I mean, it's a big country, but that's mostly the opposite problem. The hukou system also can't help - you can stop immigration to an expensive city but presumably you also stop emigration to a cheaper one.
FooBarBizBazz 3y ago
Yeah, this is great. The way I see it, potential sovereigns gain legitimacy by organizing things for the good of the people. Right now it looks like the exercise of Squamish sovereignty is in the interest of all people (except property leeches). In which case, by all means run the show. You're doing a better job than the other guys.

by camg55 3y ago

spxneo 3y ago

Building more homes in Vancouver will not result in lower prices because this is not a supply problem it is the financial assetization of home equity that drives higher and higher prices. Blue collar workers turned multi-millionaires rely on the continued rise of home prices to purchase cheap credit which they use to speculate on more homes. When they couldn't find anymore locals they turned to the international market to sell their bags. Now these 20k homes ppl are celebrating are NOT going to be sold under market prices no matter how much reddit and hn crowd wants it to be true. It will only stabilize the prices at current inflated levels. Be careful what you wish for. The only type of housing they are building is not white picket fenced backyard with a shed that is being converted to homes but high/low rise apartments primarily for rental, a hotbed for crime. Since David Eby overrode the strata no-rental rules, while not responsible it resulted in huge increase in cases of squatters, petty theft, drug labs and brothels. This does not include what a retired VPD officer describes as an "Amazon of drug labs and brothels" which is familiar to vancouver high rise but now its even easier for criminals. Vice reporters were even reporting on it years ago but now these cases are accelerating since Eby stepped in a populist spirit. I'm all for alleviating housing situation but we need to stop and ask if those people who are demanding/feel entitled to it really have the necessary income to justify it. Often I see people making 60k CAD/year lamenting how they can't find a home to live in. You can't afford anything in developed urban centres except in emerging economies. So I think rather than building more housing we need to ask who really has merit to be here and the biggest determining factor is income not how long you lived in Vancouver like certain demographic of locals are suggesting which is basically dogwhistling to say the market forces should not apply to them because of their skin colour. Simply blaming this on local housing policy failure like reddit does when housing prices has been appreciating all over the world, not just Vancouver, is myopic. There are cities that are far more dense than vancouver and has even more ridiculous real estate prices. They love Vancouver and the blue collar Canadian workers that bought their homes after 6 month of work in the 70s, 80s are not desperate to sell as they have nowhere else to go. Lot of people are being setup for major disappointments if they think vancouver home prices are coming back down to 2012 prices. There is simply no way to force homeowners to sell when they have no urgency or financial stress to do so. over 50% of homeowners in Vancouver do not have mortgages.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
Seattle3503 3y ago
It is a mistake to blame the high cost of housing on market forces. It is largely the product of local housing policy. It is a choice.
- janalsncm 3y ago
  I think it’s both. Housing policy can help or hurt but overall many places in the world have stuggled to keep housing prices affordable.
  - smallmancontrov 3y ago
    > stuggled to keep housing prices affordable. The political system does not strive for affordability, it strives to make housing a good investment. Unaffordability is just the inevitable consequence.
  - astrange 3y ago
    Expensive housing is almost entirely an Anglo nation problem. If you don't restrict infill development you won't have this issue.
    - janalsncm 3y ago
      Housing is extremely expensive in China as well. It’s one of the main barriers to Chinese yuppies having the three kids their government wants them to.
      - astrange 3y ago
        Isn't China having a real estate overproduction crisis right now? There can be different problems in different places, I mean, it's a big country, but that's mostly the opposite problem. The hukou system also can't help - you can stop immigration to an expensive city but presumably you also stop emigration to a cheaper one.

FooBarBizBazz 3y ago

Yeah, this is great. The way I see it, potential sovereigns gain legitimacy by organizing things for the good of the people. Right now it looks like the exercise of Squamish sovereignty is in the interest of all people (except property leeches). In which case, by all means run the show. You're doing a better job than the other guys.