3483 replies to this topic

[VicHockeyFan]

^ Ya, it seems odd.

[LeoVictoria]

Yeah I think this move is bad on all fronts.  Won't help affordability, another program for the government to manage badly, and encourages irresponsible borrowing, while acting directly against what the feds are trying to accomplish which is to de-risk the housing market.  

 

More of my thoughts on this here:  https://househuntvic...ne-hand-taketh/

[LJ]

For all those who think Victoria prices are unaffordable and something has to be done about it, take a gander at Palo Alto California....

 

http://www.zillow.co...ca/home-values/

 

Median price almost $2.5M USD, they have doctors and lawyers moving out of town to more affordable areas.

 

So, buy now in Victoria while they are still cheap, they will be going up, again.

[LeoVictoria]

For all those who think Victoria prices are unaffordable and something has to be done about it, take a gander at Palo Alto California....

 

http://www.zillow.co...ca/home-values/

 

Median price almost $2.5M USD, they have doctors and lawyers moving out of town to more affordable areas.

 

So, buy now in Victoria while they are still cheap, they will be going up, again.

 

Bit of a difference living in Victoria vs next to the headquarters of Google and Apple, don't you think?

[jonny]

Bit of a difference living in Victoria vs next to the headquarters of Google and Apple, don't you think?

 

Is that not reflected in the $2M median home price variance between Palo Alto and Victoria?

[VicHockeyFan]

...The other good news is that last year, the CRD acted quickly to set up the $60 million Regional Housing First Program to build affordable workforce rental housing and supportive housing for those who are chronically homeless. When faced with crisis, the regional government can respond swiftly.

 

We must now act equally quickly as a region on affordable home ownership. We don’t need to re-invent the wheel. We need to look at what’s working elsewhere and design a made-in-the-CRD solution to address local market conditions. The affordable home ownership solution we implement must not further burden already burdened taxpayers.

 

And then — just as we did with Regional Housing First — we need to implement quickly. What’s at stake if we don’t make affordable home ownership a top priority? The wellbeing of our citizens and the economic prosperity this region is currently experiencing. In order to keep the economy strong, working people and their families must be able to afford to live here.

 

http://www.vicnews.c.../412687903.html

[Nparker]

...last year, the CRD acted quickly to set up the $60 million Regional Housing First Program to build affordable workforce rental housing and supportive housing...We must now act equally quickly as a region on affordable home ownership...The affordable home ownership solution we implement must not further burden already burdened taxpayers...
 

http://www.vicnews.c.../412687903.html

Spending $60 million of taxpayer money to increase affordable rental housing gets an automatic green light from our local politicians. Yet when it comes to increasing the affordable home ownership stock the immediate knee-jerk reaction from Victoria council is to call a modest proposal (by any rational measure) "too dense".

A proposed 19-unit development in James Bay, [according to] Pam Madoff...was just so shocking...Madoff said increasing the density to such a degree could open the door to other such developments and put in jeopardy the limited supply of family housing in the neighbourhood. “So when we make decisions like this, for me, it is so important to understand the impact that we’re having.”...

- See more at: http://www.timescolo...h.01HXlGiU.dpuf

I can tell you the impact you are having Pam - you are driving up the cost of home ownership!   I swear the CoV Council live in a world so distanced from reality they are unable to see how foolish they look.

[Mike K.]

Artist's rendering of Pacifica Housing's Helios development, a four-storey, 84-unit affordable housing project coming to the intersection of Sooke Road, Aldeane Avenue and University Drive in Colwood. Helios is part of Pacifica's nearly 150-unit affordable housing initiative for Colwood and Langford.

 

150-units of affordable housing earmarked for Colwood, Langford

http://victoria.citi...elios-pacifica/

 

Victoria-based Pacifica Housing is planning to build nearly 150-units of affordable homes on the region’s Westshore, Citified has learned.

Earmarked for Langford in the 600-block of Goldstream Avenue is a 64-unit, four-storey woodframe rental complex at Pacifica’s Oak Park housing community. The affordably-priced homes will include a mix of bachelor, one-bedroom, two-bedroom, three-bedroom and four-bedroom layouts.

To make way for construction, Pacifica will rehouse ten families living at Oak Park’s existing 25-unit multi-building complex. Once the new-build apartment is completed, displaced residents will have the opportunity to relocate back to Oak Park.

In Colwood at the intersection of Sooke Road, Aldeane Avenue and University Drive, Pacifica’s 34-unit Colwood Lakes housing community at 2006 Sooke Road will grow with Helios, a four-storey, 84-unit woodframe complex offering homes with bachelor, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom layouts. [Full article]

[VicHockeyFan]

For aboriginals, housing poses additional challenges

 

- See more at: http://www.timescolo...h.LLP6g3dR.dpuf

 

“The number of homeless who identify as aboriginal in Victoria is disproportionately higher than the approximate five per cent of the aboriginal population in Canada. The stats range between 20 and 35 per cent and sometimes higher,” said Fran Hunt-Jinnouchi, executive director of Victoria’s Aboriginal Coalition to End Homelessness.

 

“Participants have pointed to a number of challenges regarding securing housing: racism by rental property managers, feeling like they are under the microscope at all times, not having enough funds through social assistance to pay the rent, and having so many rules that they are likely to fail, especially in relation to addictions, curfews and having friends and family visit,” she said.

 

“I have heard this sentiment often: ‘I was in ministry care, then to ‘juvie’ as a teen, then to jail. Now I’m housed and the cameras, curfews, and rules are my prison.’ ”

 

Hunt-Jinnouchi said a perpetual lack of housing on reserves is part of the problem. It is not the only reason people leave aboriginal communities — many leave for work, education and other opportunities, but struggle in urban centres.

 

She added that affordable housing dollars do not trickle down to the people she works with as they are often geared toward families.

 

“The residue of colonialism, the Indian Act, and particularly residential schools and the cycle of being in foster care have had far-reaching inter-generational consequences,” she said.

 

“In many cases, indigenous people experience displacement and dislocation, physically and spiritually, and often feel like they don’t belong in either world — indigenous or western mainstream.”

 

[VicHockeyFan]

Homelessness in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside is reaching crisis levels with few solutions in sight, according to the Carnegie Community Action Project’s (CCAP) hotel and housing report released Monday.

 

“One of our findings was the average rent in the privately run hotels is $548 a month,” said Jean Swanson, a researcher involved in the eighth annual report. “And that $548 means that if you’re on welfare of $610 (for a single person), you only have $62 extra a month, or about $2 a day. The welfare rates have to go up massively.”

 

 

Well, another way a single, employable person can get more than $610/mo. is to work.

 

The report also called for restoring the Residential Rehabilitation Assistance Program (RRAP) where hotels can get federal money for renovation and repair if they agree to strict rent control, raising welfare to $1,500 a month and disability to $1,800 a month.

 

The report also suggested designating enough land for 5,000 units of social housing in the Downtown Eastside to show senior levels of government that the city of Vancouver is serious about solving the housing crisis, and restoring minimum unit sizes to 400 square feet, so people have a home that feels permanent.

 

- See more at: http://www.timescolo...h.jXc3V0k9.dpuf

 

Ya, right.  Double the welfare rates and give people bigger homes.  That's great.

[Nparker]

 

Victoria councillors have approved higher development application fees despite pushback from builders’ organizations who say the additional costs will increase the cost of housing...

- See more at: http://www.timescolo...h.ZacknkGf.dpuf

How does raising the costs for developers make housing more affordable?

[rjag]

How does raising the costs for developers make housing more affordable?

These fees should be waived if it shows increased density and (for example) a 200% lift in property taxes, as it is any and all fees are simply passed on to the consumer. The recurring revenue in perpetuity with increased property taxes will more than cover any of their 1 time costs to approve the development 

[Nparker]

...any and all fees are simply passed on to the consumer...

Exactly. Extra fees from the city simply make housing even less affordable than it is now. The CoV clearly has little idea about optics and even less about economics.

[spanky123]

Exactly. Extra fees from the city simply make housing even less affordable than it is now. The CoV clearly has little idea about optics and even less about economics.

 

I think they know exactly what they are doing but they have to get the money from someone to pay for their goofy programs and cost overruns. Easier to make the developer pay then to raise taxes.

[Nparker]

...Easier to make the developer pay then to raise taxes.

But the CoV does both; and in the end since the developer passes on their expenses to the consumer, it is still the "little guy" who ultimately pays the price.

[VicHockeyFan]

I dunno.  Why does a fee stay at the same rate for 20 years?  That's just laziness somewhere.

[Nparker]

...Why does a fee stay at the same rate for 20 years?  That's just laziness somewhere.

Oh I agree, but when, as a local government, you are constantly going on about how unaffordable the local housing market is, the optics of raising the fees now is atrocious.

[LJ]

It's interesting to note that ever since the 15% foreign buyers tax on housing in the lower mainland came into effect the sale of farmland is enjoying a very robust buying frenzy.

[Jackerbie]

It's interesting to note that ever since the 15% foreign buyers tax on housing in the lower mainland came into effect the sale of farmland is enjoying a very robust buying frenzy.

 

Farmland is exempt from the foreign buyers tax, and the restrictions on development are quite lax in certain municipalities.

[LJ]

^Yeah, that was my point.

 

Also price per acre has gone up 50%