Affordable housing in Victoria
#841
Posted 26 February 2018 - 08:42 PM
- A Girl is No one likes this
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#842
Posted 26 February 2018 - 08:50 PM
#843
Posted 14 March 2018 - 12:25 PM
Not directly relevant to Victoria, but
The federal government is looking at a real estate developer’s proposal to build 50,000 units of affordable housing primarily in Toronto and Vancouver — a plan valued at as much as $14-billion that could become a big part of Ottawa’s national housing strategy.
According to a proposal submitted to Ottawa, the project would be led by the Creative Housing Society, an independent non-profit group to be based in Toronto. Creative Housing was established last fall by Ian Gillespie, a prominent Vancouver real estate developer whose firm, Westbank, is active in Toronto and Vancouver.
The founding partners of Creative Housing, according to the proposal, would be Westbank, Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC), Allied Properties REIT and an investor such as a pension fund. The project would be open to other investors. The plan is to leverage public money with private-sector investments.
In the Creative Housing proposal, CMHC would be the primary lender. Institutional investors in the private sector, such as pension funds and insurers, would provide most of the equity capital. Westbank and Allied would also contribute some equity. Land owned by cities, provinces and the federal government would be used as building sites.
https://www.theglobe...able/?cmpid=rss
I imagine if/when the condo market slows down, capital could naturally divert to rental projects.
#844
Posted 14 March 2018 - 01:39 PM
- jonny and Janion Fan like this
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#845
Posted 14 March 2018 - 02:57 PM
A few years ago my daughter spent six months working in Brussels. She rented a room in a house, owner lived downstairs, and she and another girl shared a kitchen and bathroom. There was no way she could have afforded a place on her own, and she was working, not a student.
- Mike K. likes this
#846
Posted 15 March 2018 - 08:26 AM
But how can that be? I thought only speculation taxes can solve our housing crisis, and not the supply of housing?
Our recent "housing crisis" is a result of Ottawa increasing the quota of immigrants in 2016 from about 240K a year to 350K. I have no issues with immigration, but if you increase housing demand with 110K new people and your total annual increase in supply is flat at 220K homes then you are going to have a problem.
#847
Posted 15 March 2018 - 09:42 AM
Our recent "housing crisis" is a result of Ottawa increasing the quota of immigrants in 2016 from about 240K a year to 350K. I have no issues with immigration, but if you increase housing demand with 110K new people and your total annual increase in supply is flat at 220K homes then you are going to have a problem.
Our recent "crisis" excisted before 2016.
#848
Posted 15 March 2018 - 09:54 AM
There has certainly been a large disconnect between population growth (which is largely via immigration) and housing starts, particularly in Toronto and Vancouver.
We have tracked that phenomenon here at VV for years. It's only recently (in the last year or two) that housing starts have kept or exceeded the pace of population growth.
#849
Posted 15 March 2018 - 09:55 AM
Our recent "crisis" excisted before 2016.
We just had an interesting and enlightening article in the Richmond News about this. Metro Vancouver real estate headlines 30 years ago: http://www.richmond-...-ago-1.23199146
- Mattjvd likes this
#850
Posted 15 March 2018 - 10:46 AM
The housing crisis narrative in Victoria goes back pretty much to day one. The funny thing is, the current generation always wants to regard the prior generation's crisis as being much ado about nothing. Can a crisis really be genuine if it persists for more than a hundred years?
Jan 7, 1969
"Major Attack Organized on Housing" (article)
"Greater Victoria mayors Monday took a hard look at the year ahead and decided their number one problem is housing."
"...the four chief magistrates promised a broad attack on the problem of providing adequate housing, particularly for lower income groups."
Jan 7, 1969
"Mayoral Prescription" (editorial)
"The urgent need for housing accommodation within the reach of families of moderate and low income has been made plain in recent months."
"Housing Crisis Committee Set Up"
"One cannot deny the fact that Saanich...faces a housing crisis."
1947:
1919:
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#851
Posted 15 March 2018 - 10:57 AM
The housing crisis narrative in Victoria goes back pretty much to day one. The funny thing is, the current generation always wants to regard the prior generation's crisis as being much ado about nothing. Can a crisis really be genuine if it persists for more than a hundred years?
1947:
1919:
Woah, I knew it had been going on for a while, but since 1919!
- jonny likes this
#852
Posted 15 March 2018 - 12:06 PM
Not directly relevant to Victoria, but
https://www.theglobe...able/?cmpid=rss
I imagine if/when the condo market slows down, capital could naturally divert to rental projects.
My issue with this is Allied and Westbank the sole developers for these project and can they charge whatever they want for construction costs (ie throw in a little equity and be guaranteed whatever profits they want) vs construction being publically tendered to the lowest competent bidder.
If that's the case TJV Construction* will throw in some money too. My $2 million investment could easily make me $5+ million!
*not my real company name
#853
Posted 15 March 2018 - 06:16 PM
Anyway, I think I said it way back that my fear was heavy handed Government intervention and it looks like we got it. The spec tax will do nothing for affordability. How about removing dollar figures from house assessments and just going with an index number so the tax roll function is achieved? The letter in the mail telling everyone their house is worth 20% more this year was probably the biggest blow to affordability. Notice how all the asking prices are that much higher since?
- DavidSchell and Awaiting Juno like this
#854
Posted 16 March 2018 - 06:40 AM
but speaking of taxes, frankly I am not sure why a nicer house should pay more in taxes than a crappy unkept one next door with an overgrown lawn. Basically if you pay money and keep up your house you get penalized with more taxes? Yup, that sounds fair
#855
Posted 16 March 2018 - 06:58 AM
Tell me about it. Friends of mine bought a house, cleaned up the yard and gave it a fresh coat of paint. Their taxes were jacked up heavily the following year. Insane.
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#856
Posted 16 March 2018 - 08:00 AM
^ their assessed value also went up of course, which doesn't really mean anything.
Did they not pay a little less for the house than they could have if the house/yard had been in better shape to start off though?
#857
Posted 16 March 2018 - 01:24 PM
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#858
Posted 26 April 2018 - 06:52 AM
Affordable housing development leaves neighbours concerned - Victoria NewsA 90-unit proposal on Prosser Rd. is before Central Saanich council
At a special committee of the whole meeting on Thursday, April 19, neighbours expressed concerns the building was too high and that an increase of cars would overwhelm their community and more residents would impact the transit system.
90 units. Central Saanich has 17,000 people and about 7,000 dwelling units. How are cars and numbers going to "overwhelm" the community? This is a 1% increase.
Edited by VicHockeyFan, 26 April 2018 - 06:56 AM.
#859
Posted 26 April 2018 - 07:39 AM
Housing affordability is the #1 concern for EVERYONE in the CRD...until something is proposed for their neighbourhood.
#860
Posted 26 April 2018 - 07:41 AM
Central Saanich is a pretty big space, and not very dense. 90 new units is nothing.
Also, from the article:
While the surrounding buildings are mostly single-family homes, the overall height of the five-storey unit would only be one-metre higher than the surrounding townhouses. The site is on a hill, so the applicants plan to dig down and regrade the site to minimize its visual imposition on the community.
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