3483 replies to this topic

[aastra]

Like I say, just do Victoria-style development around Uptown and Tillicum and up the density a bit in some of the neighbourhoods closest to the city. I make those drastic comparisons merely for effect. Obviously you aren't ever going to have city-style densities across vast areas of the suburbs. But why not be innovative and bump things up just a bit? Walk the environmental and affordability walk instead of just talking the talk?

[aastra]

I just don't see what the risk would be in dabbling here and there. The stinkers like to portray Victoria-style development (even within Victoria itself) as if it were the worst thing imaginable. I'm suggesting that the horrors have been exaggerated. Saanich and Esquimalt and even Oak Bay have decently dense little sections that are indistinguishable from same in Vic city. They've had them for a long time. So why not add a few more?

[lanforod]

you're preaching to the choir here. Unfortunately, Saanich council and the majority of voters don't seem to agree

[Victoria Watcher]

what if the entire area between blenkinsop road and shelbourne from mt. doug park to mckenzie were to become dense highrises? what harm would that be? blenkinsop (an upgraded) cedar hill and shelbourne can all service them north-south and mckenzie has the capacity for east west.

alternately use the high quadra area.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 25 September 2019 - 09:50 AM.

[Sparky]

Here is a history lesson for y’all.

http://worldpopulati...ria-population/

[aastra]

Methinks the old forecasts for Saanich are informative:

 

 

Daily Colonist
January 29, 1977

Saanich plan: Eight local meetings urged

Saanich alderman Fred Severson would like to see eight public meetings held throughout the sprawling municipality to discuss the official community plan.

Severson expects considerable heat to be generated... over the proposals for industrial development, especially at Royal Oak.

"If every community had their way there would be no growth, this is the feeling."

Severson wants to see a population in Saanich by 1995 of no more than 110,000. The Capital Region planning forecast by 1995 is 143,000.

 

He also envisages a greater emphasis on multiple dwellings in the municipality over the next few years.

"...I foresee the trend moving to more apartments, condominiums, and implementation of zero lot line building."
 

 

So if you wanted to go slow, you hoped Saanich would have its 2019 population back in the 1990s. They had no idea how slow Saanich would end up becoming.

 

I think Saanich today should be aiming for that ~140,000 target again.

Edited by aastra, 25 September 2019 - 10:00 AM.

[Sparky]

This version is only 12 years old but it’s starting to catch on

https://www.saanich....ral_lap_web.pdf

[Victoria Watcher]

the part about the “vast majority of people” being unable to afford $1100/mo. for shelter. let’s assume he means adult Victorians. the “vast majority” already pay more than that with rent or mortgages and taxes and maintenance.

 

a single person making minimum wage and working 48 hours per week makes $2900+ per month ($2383 take-home after all payroll deductions).  not sure why this guy stresses over paying $800 for rent.

 

* i just assume if he is single with no dependants he might be able to work 48 hours at least.  and a tiny percentage of the population only earns only minimum wage.

 

 

A commentary by recent UVic grad, with a degree in anthropology and environmental studies, who has lived in Victoria for the past five years as a student, and now as a young adult. 

 

 

 

Victoria has one of the lowest rental vacancy rates in Canada, with some of the highest average rent prices as well. With a growing population of students, this is a recipe for disaster. Currently I pay $800 a month plus utilities for a room in a house just outside of Fairfield with five roommates. This is at the extreme of my budget, and the biggest stressor to my finances is paying my monthly rent.

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...tage-1.23944942

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 26 September 2019 - 04:32 PM.

[A Girl is No one]

Perhaps he should have invested some time in an economics course...

[rmpeers]

When I read some of these stories, I am left wondering... are you being forced to live in Victoria? If it's genuinely "terrifying," is there not some other, more affordable place you could move to?

Not intending this to be sarcastic. If it really is terrifying, why not look at other places?

[DustMagnet]

“No way! Why should I change? He’s the one who sucks!”

[tedward]

a single person making minimum wage and working 48 hours per week makes $2900+ per month ($2383 take-home after all payroll deductions).  not sure why this guy stresses over paying $800 for rent.

 

* i just assume if he is single with no dependants he might be able to work 48 hours at least.  and a tiny percentage of the population only earns only minimum wage.

 

WTF did 48 hours become a normal work week let alone a reasonable one?!? People literally died fighting for the 40 hr week and you want to take us back?

You are also assuming that a person can get full-time in a minimum wage job. Not the norm now. People work multiple part-time jobs because employers don't want to deal with full time employees who might dare to ask for benefits.

So in summary, you see no problem with keeping the bulk of the population in corporate serfdom in aid of the largest income equality gap since the 19th century. No wonder I keep seeing people talking about bringing back another idea: guillotines.
 

[Victoria Watcher]

WTF did 48 hours become a normal work week let alone a reasonable one?!? People literally died fighting for the 40 hr week and you want to take us back?

You are also assuming that a person can get full-time in a minimum wage job. Not the norm now. People work multiple part-time jobs because employers don't want to deal with full time employees who might dare to ask for benefits.

So in summary, you see no problem with keeping the bulk of the population in corporate serfdom in aid of the largest income equality gap since the 19th century. No wonder I keep seeing people talking about bringing back another idea: guillotines.
 

 

i don't want experienced and skilled workers and ones with kids and families working 48-hour weeks - unless they want to. the highest-paid people do this though doctors lawyers managers.

 

but i expect young school graduates to work 48 hours a week if they want to get ahead and live in victoria.  until they get more skills/experience and move to higher paying jobs.

 

i'm not assuming there are lots of 40-hour-week full-time jobs for minimum wage.  i expect a person might have to cobble together a few jobs.  a young eager worker can do that and employers are looking for that kind of enthusiasm.

 

your last paragraph makes no sense so i'll just ignore it.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 27 September 2019 - 08:32 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

so the jukebox benefits from backing onto fort street commercial so they have parking up on the 2nd floor (and i presume 1st floor behind its commercial units).

 

 

so wouldn't it make sense to use this design to make back-to-back 2-building similar projects?

 

like this:

 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 28 September 2019 - 04:13 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

As mayors of some of the densest cities in Canada and B.C., we see firsthand the worst effects of our nation’s affordability crisis. We have seen unprecedented commodification of housing. We have seen speculators purchasing housing units and buildings, only to “sit” on them, either leaving them vacant or under-used, primarily seeing them as investments, not homes.

 

 

https://www.timescol...able-1.23962678

 

ok.  the reason why this happens is because these investors know it's a pretty safe investment.  local governments have done a terrible job of encouraging and ensuring more supply.  and these investors know that's unlikely to change.  when was the last time local governments made changes to streamline building applications or reduced taxes or fees and development charges or decreased layers of bureaucracy or standards in any way.  never.  if anything more costs are being added continually.  so these investors grab a piece of real estate knowing almost invariably it'll go up in value and they can charge a pretty pood rent - or just leave it vacant or virtually vacant to save any wear.  

[Victoria Watcher]

This is particularly the case for renters, with low-income renters being hit harder by the housing affordability crisis. The federal housing crisis is, among other things, fundamentally an issue of equity.

Renter households in hot markets are being squeezed. Rents are going up, many purpose-built rental buildings aren’t being adequately maintained, and rental vacancy rates are staying consistently around one per cent, much lower than the three to five per cent vacancy rate that represents a healthy residential rental market.

So how did we get here? A historical lack of investment at the federal level and by many provincial governments has created a legacy gap. While the federal government has stepped back into the void with a National Housing Strategy and very welcome injections of cash, the fact is that closing a decades-wide gap is a considerable undertaking. It can only be achieved by working together.

This is a call to action. We call upon all federal parties to indicate renewed commitment to closing the housing affordability gap, with particular focus on renters and vulnerable Canadians. Specifically, we have the following four requests for the federal government:

1. We request a GST exemption on rental housing construction projects, and also the maintenance and repairs of existing rental buildings, on the condition that the exempted taxes can be demonstrably used to lower rents and to increase security of tenure.

2. We request direct funding for non-market housing to be granted to local and regional governments.

3. We request an acceleration of the National Housing Strategy, rolling important NHS initiatives out over the next five years, instead of 10.

4. We request that the federal government create a nation-wide Rental Rehabilitation Assistance Program. While Canada’s purpose-built market rental housing stock is aging and in many cases could use considerable renewal, this aging stock also provides relatively affordable housing for tenants, many of whom have low to moderate income levels.

 

 

ok.  this is typical of many politicians not just helps.  

 

this 4-point program completely ignores that fact that municipalities - not the federal or provincial government - is in the very best place to help with affordability.  they can streamline the application and re-zoning process.  they can add allowances in existing zoning like for example they could blanket zone r-1 to allow duplexes on every single lot.  they can reduce setback minimums.  they can allow greater density.  they can cut fees or offer tax holidays.

 

but it should probably be noted that the city of victoria could do all this and it would not make a lick of difference if at least the other large municipalities here also did the same.  if cov added 20,000 units tomorrow it would hardly move the affordability or cost factor.

[Victoria Watcher]

Rents are going up, many purpose-built rental buildings aren’t being adequately maintained, and rental vacancy rates are staying consistently around one per cent, much lower than the three to five per cent vacancy rate that represents a healthy residential rental market.

 

 

sigh.  3-5% vacancy is health for who?  certainly not for building owners.  if they have 5 vacancies for every 100 units held and they sit empty that's not good for their bottom line.  money they need for maintenance and taxes.  their other 95 units are already rent controlled but this provincial government.  so they need close to 100% occupancy just to pay the bills.

[Victoria Watcher]

many purpose-built rental buildings aren’t being adequately maintained

 

 

day-to-day maintenance seems fine from where i look. 

 

longer-term as mike has been pointing out is less healthy for buildings of a certain age that need significant upgrades to plumbing electrical and in some cases siding and decks.  

[Victoria Watcher]

We request that the federal government create a nation-wide Rental Rehabilitation Assistance Program. While Canada’s purpose-built market rental housing stock is aging and in many cases could use considerable renewal, this aging stock also provides relatively affordable housing for tenants, many of whom have low to moderate income levels.

 

 

this sounds like a bail-out to large commercial landlords.  it's not necessary.

[Mike K.]

Recall that the CoV’s garden suite policy that was lauded as cutting red tape and targeted at 7,000 potential properties has been a failure. A couple of years in, the City says it must reintroduce red tape due to the complexity of the applications moving forward, despite only a trickle actually having materialized.

Note that you don’t see Langford complaining about any of these housing issues. They build build build, while other municipalities scoff a their way of doing business, accusing Langford of being a sprawling mess, etc (which it certainly is not).

Langford doesn’t need any of the magic tricks Victoria does to make it all work.