Good summary Russil. Those two comments before me make sound points, and although I think there are good answers to their questions that land at the same types of policy suggestions you support, I wonder if it's worth exploring other messaging that more directly answers their types of questions. Personally, I do think OneCity campaigning on "cost of living crisis" feels a bit off-base considering how much better the cost of living has gotten in the past three years.
To address Evelyn's point, perhaps it's worth explaining how the spot rezoning process contributes to higher costs by making cost projections higher, resulting in developers attempting to build fewer projects, reducing supply, which ultimately makes prices higher than they would be with transparent development charges and land that's already zoned for apartments. And this is true even if council does approve many projects.
Regarding displacement of existing tenants, I think this deserves more attention from pro-housing folks in general. I would love a deep dive into how council is addressing this now and your take on it. I heard some people say that the Broadway plan includes provisions for this, but I'm not sure exactly how they work or if they're a good idea.
And of course to address Anthony's point it might be worth explaining apartment filtering, although I've never seen anyone do it as well as Uytae: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbQAr3K57WQ
I don't know what others think, but have you looked around the city lately? Towers are being built EVERYWHERE. And I'm not talking about low or medium height towers. Last spring alone, Vancouver City Council approved 18 towers or close to 4,000 homes. But think of the folks who have and will be demovicted from their homes to make this happen. And what about service workers and young people making minimum wage? They won't be able to afford the price of anything. So I completely disagree with your viewpoint.
Hey Evelyn, thank you for sharing your perspective. I understand your perspective and how it feels like new apartments being so expensive couldn't possibly help with affordability. I also think there's an important discussion that isn't talked about often enough regarding what happens with displaced folks when a new building is constructed.
However, I still think new constructions, even if they're costly, help with affordability overall. This video by About Here lays out the reasons that convinced me of this, which as far as I know is strongly supported by economic studies. I'm very curious what you think after watching it, please let me know :)
Housing is not scarce there are condos being built all over the lower mainland. We are in a situation now that not everybody can have a detached single family home that was the case up to the 1980s. There are even reports of unsold and empty condos. The problem is that the housing being built right now is unaffordable to wage earners. The era of paying top dollar for a well appointed condo hoping for a flip to a foreign buyer is over.
Good summary Russil. Those two comments before me make sound points, and although I think there are good answers to their questions that land at the same types of policy suggestions you support, I wonder if it's worth exploring other messaging that more directly answers their types of questions. Personally, I do think OneCity campaigning on "cost of living crisis" feels a bit off-base considering how much better the cost of living has gotten in the past three years.
To address Evelyn's point, perhaps it's worth explaining how the spot rezoning process contributes to higher costs by making cost projections higher, resulting in developers attempting to build fewer projects, reducing supply, which ultimately makes prices higher than they would be with transparent development charges and land that's already zoned for apartments. And this is true even if council does approve many projects.
Regarding displacement of existing tenants, I think this deserves more attention from pro-housing folks in general. I would love a deep dive into how council is addressing this now and your take on it. I heard some people say that the Broadway plan includes provisions for this, but I'm not sure exactly how they work or if they're a good idea.
And of course to address Anthony's point it might be worth explaining apartment filtering, although I've never seen anyone do it as well as Uytae: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbQAr3K57WQ
I don't know what others think, but have you looked around the city lately? Towers are being built EVERYWHERE. And I'm not talking about low or medium height towers. Last spring alone, Vancouver City Council approved 18 towers or close to 4,000 homes. But think of the folks who have and will be demovicted from their homes to make this happen. And what about service workers and young people making minimum wage? They won't be able to afford the price of anything. So I completely disagree with your viewpoint.
Hey Evelyn, thank you for sharing your perspective. I understand your perspective and how it feels like new apartments being so expensive couldn't possibly help with affordability. I also think there's an important discussion that isn't talked about often enough regarding what happens with displaced folks when a new building is constructed.
However, I still think new constructions, even if they're costly, help with affordability overall. This video by About Here lays out the reasons that convinced me of this, which as far as I know is strongly supported by economic studies. I'm very curious what you think after watching it, please let me know :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbQAr3K57WQ
Housing is not scarce there are condos being built all over the lower mainland. We are in a situation now that not everybody can have a detached single family home that was the case up to the 1980s. There are even reports of unsold and empty condos. The problem is that the housing being built right now is unaffordable to wage earners. The era of paying top dollar for a well appointed condo hoping for a flip to a foreign buyer is over.