3506 replies to this topic

[aastra]

Homeownership is going to get more expensive, too, as the new “flipping” tax means you can’t decide not to move in to the unit you bought, and will pay a new tax if you sell it. That tax will be baked into the next guy’s purchase price, of course.

They should implement a new tax to address this. If you try to pass the tax burden on to the next guy then you'll be taxed.

[Victoria Watcher]

These abandoned old houses are called 'nuisance properties' — and Regina is full of them

 

146 boarded-up properties in North Central, 41 in Heritage as of April, city says

 

 

 

 

https://www.cbc.ca/n...ected-1.6889625

 

 

 

 

The city can step in to bring a property in line with the standard, Bernreuther said, but will only do so once "all efforts to achieve voluntary compliance have failed."

 

In such a case, the city will do the work and apply it to the property owner's taxes. Usually, the city sends a contractor to do the repairs, Bernreuther said.

 

The last resort is demolition. Bylaw enforcement demolished 22 properties last year, including 15 in North Central, Bernreuther said.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 04 July 2023 - 11:45 AM.

[LJ]

Until we get into this sort of housing, we will never have enough affordable housing in Victoria.

 

https://www.london.g...-renting-london

 

 

Of course, that won't do anything to cure the workless drug addicted population problem.

[Nparker]

It's perhaps a bit easier for the mayor of London to promise 20,000 new affordable homes based on a population of 3.4 million (Inner London) than the City of Victoria's fewer than 95,000 residents. 

[LJ]

^I was only commenting on the type of housing we need to construct if attainability is the goal. 

[dasmo]

Attainablility is a better word for it.

[Victoria Watcher]

Canada Wants to Make Homes Affordable Without Crushing Prices

 

https://www.bloomber...checkout-banner

[Victoria Watcher]

Minneapolis has a YIMBY message for America: Build more houses and get rid of suburban-style zoning and inflation will disappear

“There is no more effective way to rein in inflation than to expand the supply of affordable housing and increase housing affordability,” says Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi.


https://fortune.com/...-minnesota/amp/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 11 August 2023 - 03:45 AM.

[Mike K.]

Inflation will just disappear?

[spanky123]

^ So you print $320M to artificially lower rents to make inflation appear lower but then ignore the fact that you will need to keep printing that much and more every year to keep the subsidies going and cover the interest on the printed money.

May work for a year or two until the effect of the loose monetary policy catches up as it has everywhere else.

[Mike K.]

Simple solutions to complex problems is the new way!

[dasmo]

Minneapolis has a YIMBY message for America: Build more houses and get rid of suburban-style zoning and inflation will disappear

“There is no more effective way to rein in inflation than to expand the supply of affordable housing and increase housing affordability,” says Moody’s chief economist Mark Zandi.


https://fortune.com/...-minnesota/amp/

Fixed that one bit for them….
“Well before lockdown-related supply-chain snarls and labor shortages roiled the economy”

[Victoria Watcher]

Inflation jumped higher last month, to 3.3%

Mortgage interest costs the biggest single factor in the increase

https://www.cbc.ca/n...-july-1.6936557


But we are putting up the BoC rate in order to fight inflation. Does anybody know what they are doing?

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 15 August 2023 - 07:08 AM.

[dasmo]

It’s to fight wage inflation….

[Mike K.]

Mortgage rates go up to reduce inflation, are cited as central reason for rising inflation.

Is the left hand no longer plugged in to the right? Jesus.

[spanky123]

Mortgage rates go up to reduce inflation, are cited as central reason for rising inflation.

Is the left hand no longer plugged in to the right? Jesus.

At least 67% of folks in Victoria don’t have mortgages! (Ie they rent)

Edited by spanky123, 16 August 2023 - 03:06 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

John Robson: So we need more immigrants ... to build homes for all the immigrants?

 

Does the minister of immigration not think existing Canadians can handle a hammer?

 

https://nationalpost...-the-immigrants

 

 

 

 

With the Australian government hiring a consultant for advice on dealing with consultants, Momus, the Greek god of satire, retreats helplessly from the stage. Which is too bad since we could use a satirical hand, or mouth, when told Canada’s minister of immigration says we must bring in an endless stream of immigrants to build houses for the endless stream of immigrants we’re bringing in to build … um … hang on a second.

 

Are Canadians incapable of constructing dwellings? I’m a journalist by trade, so presumptively as useful in real life as, say, a poet. Or a consultant. But I have built a sleeping cabin and helped on that most iconic of Canadian dwellings, a cottage. I have even mixed cement. And doubtless others in this land surpass me. Including pros.

 

The minister cannot possibly think absent mass immigration we couldn’t build any homes. Where did our existing stock come from? The real issue is whether the current flood of immigrants contains enough extra homebuilders to provide extra shelter for that flood and then some. Especially as the minister cannot possibly think Canadian immigration policy is structured to bring in hundreds of thousands of framers, joiners, engineers and guys who use “footer” in everyday conversation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You know, I swear, we are simply building housing wrong in so many ways.  Almost nobody should be "swinging a hammer" on the jobsite.  A machine somewhere should be spitting out extruded 8' tall panels that already have exterior and interior finishing, insulation.  And if that panel needs a window, it gets punched out.  

 

 

^ Like this, but probably no wood.

 

Then the roof panel is the same, shed type roof.

 

You end up with this:

 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 16 August 2023 - 05:45 AM.

[lanforod]

I think that could work for some stuff, but especially for houses, people want bespoke.

[Victoria Watcher]

So much missing from this article.  For example, what dollar figures were developers required to pay?  And with $24.5 million, why can't they develop even "a single social housing project"?  $24.5 million ought to buy at least 50 units.  Searching MLS.ca I find today 370 condo listings between $475,000 and $500,000 in Montreal proper. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every developer has opted to pay Montreal instead of building affordable housing, under new bylaw

 

 

Two years after Valérie Plante's administration said a new housing bylaw would lead to the construction of 600 new social housing units per year, the city hasn't seen a single one.

 

The Bylaw for a Diverse Metropolis forces developers to include social, family and, in some places, affordable housing units to any new projects larger than 4,843 square feet.

 

If they don't, they must pay a fine or hand over land, buildings or individual units for the city to turn into affordable or social housing.

 

According to data released by Ensemble Montréal, the city's official opposition, and reviewed by CBC News, there have been 150 new projects by private developers, creating a total of 7,100 housing units, since the bylaw came into effect in April 2021.

 

None of the units have yet been made into affordable housing, with all the developers of those projects opting instead to give Montreal financial compensation. Only 550 units are big enough to be considered family housing. Five developers ceded a piece of property to the city instead of creating affordable housing.

 

The money from the fees paid by developers goes into either the city's affordable housing fund or its social housing fund. Those fees have so far amounted to a total of $24.5 million — not enough to develop a single social housing project, according to housing experts.

 

 

 

https://www.cbc.ca/n...polis-1.6941008

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 21 August 2023 - 06:32 AM.

[Mike K.]

there have been 150 new projects by private developers,

Built? Approved?

Also, $24.5 million is a lot of money. 60-80 units, no problem, and probably much more in Quebec. Presumably the City already has the land.

What do they mean they can’t build anything for $25 million? That’s nutty.