3492 replies to this topic

[Sparky]

I have some questions about housing. 

 

There seems to be a vast number of residential housing units coming on line currently in both the rental and condominium markets.

 

Where will the occupants come from to fill these spaces? Where do they live now? To me it seems like we used to have a shortage of housing for people that moved or want to move to the region, and the recent building boom will help reverse that trend. 

 

Who is going to fill these units? Young adults moving out of their parent's homes? People that currently live up island or the mainland? 

 

Having been inside a few of these projects lately, the other thing that has jumped out at me is the reduction of the size of the average rental unit. They don't seem to be large enough for two people. Are there more single people now than couples? It seems to me that there has been a change in the way we live. Am I getting too old to understand what's changing in our demographic make up?

 

I am having trouble digesting the math. Perhaps someone could enlighten me. 

[Nparker]

He's not even making the slimmest effort to hide his communism at this point

 

...“I would love for the city to be aggressively developing affordable rental housing and for the city to be the main developer in the city for the next three or four years to house poor people,” Isitt said...
 

https://www.timescol...ects-1.23789395

If this horrible person should ever become mayor I will definitely move out of the CoV.

[tedward]

He's not even making the slimmest effort to hide his communism at this point

 

And yet again you prove you have no idea what the word "communism" means.

Social housing is required and is needed to fill a gap left by years of neglect. Not-for-profit housing is not "communism". Being the "main developer" is not the same as being the ONLY developer as would be the case under communism.

 

[spanky123]

I have some questions about housing. 

 

There seems to be a vast number of residential housing units coming on line currently in both the rental and condominium markets.

 

Where will the occupants come from to fill these spaces? Where do they live now? To me it seems like we used to have a shortage of housing for people that moved or want to move to the region, and the recent building boom will help reverse that trend. 

 

Who is going to fill these units? Young adults moving out of their parent's homes? People that currently live up island or the mainland? 

 

Having been inside a few of these projects lately, the other thing that has jumped out at me is the reduction of the size of the average rental unit. They don't seem to be large enough for two people. Are there more single people now than couples? It seems to me that there has been a change in the way we live. Am I getting too old to understand what's changing in our demographic make up?

 

I am having trouble digesting the math. Perhaps someone could enlighten me. 

 

 

I believe that most, if not all, of the 'affordable housing' stock is being acquired by BC Housing or one of its partners so the developer doesn't really care if the market is being oversupplied.

 

If we accept the most recent research available to the City, I share your concern on the mix of inventory coming available. If all of the city's growth is going to come from the 65+ crowd then you would think that the market would need 1 and 2 bedroom inventory and not small studios. 

[Mike K.]

And yet again you prove you have no idea what the word "communism" means.

Social housing is required and is needed to fill a gap left by years of neglect. Not-for-profit housing is not "communism". Being the "main developer" is not the same as being the ONLY developer as would be the case under communism.

Building housing is not a municipality’s obligation, and yet historically speaking the CoV has been the gatekeeper that has kept thousands of units of housing from materializing since the last development boom of the 70’s.

Should we be harnessing our own electricity to sell at below market rates? Operate a car lot? Cafes and restaurants? Why not a circus? Nobody’s operating circuses these days.

[spanky123]

And yet again you prove you have no idea what the word "communism" means.

Social housing is required and is needed to fill a gap left by years of neglect. Not-for-profit housing is not "communism". Being the "main developer" is not the same as being the ONLY developer as would be the case under communism.

 

What is problematic about social housing is how units are allocated. On the one hand you have people waiting for years to get housing being told there is limited supply, and then a tent city pops up and everyone who wants it gets housing the next day. It is that lack of transparency about how the system works that causes people to think that it is broken.

[Nparker]

Building housing is not a municipality’s obligation...

This. The CoV's involvement should begin and end with ensuring that local bylaws and zoning requirements are met. Managing/funding social housing should be left with the province and the feds who have the proper resources to do the job.

[tedward]

Managing/funding social housing should be left with the province and the feds who have the proper resources to do the job.

 

 

As happens so often, it is the cities that ends up having to deal with things. Homelessness, mental health issues, addictions, poverty are all things that cities are forced to deal with because federal and provincial governments can't or won't do anything about it.

Housing seems to me to be one area where local knowledge and experience should contribute to locally-based solutions. By all means let's take their money, but I'd rather a local government official be involved than someone from Ottawa. This is just an extension of urban planning IMO.

 

[jonny]

We don't need scads of new social housing. Social housing should be the last resort for those in need. It shouldn't be for people who aren't in poverty or aren't in dire straights. Social housing should be a temporary stopgap for those in need while we help them get on their feet.

 

We need the municipalities to take their foot off the brake and let the developers and landowners do what they want to do, which is build.

[jasmineshinga]

Shifting demos Sparky.

 

https://www.citynews...stats-can-says/

[Mike K.]

Housing seems to me to be one area where local knowledge and experience should contribute to locally-based solutions. By all means let's take their money, but I'd rather a local government official be involved than someone from Ottawa. This is just an extension of urban planning IMO.

 

And it currently doesn't?

 

The money comes from Ottawa but Ottawa doesn't dictate the form of the building, local politicians do.

[jonny]

I have some questions about housing. 

 

There seems to be a vast number of residential housing units coming on line currently in both the rental and condominium markets.

 

Where will the occupants come from to fill these spaces? Where do they live now? To me it seems like we used to have a shortage of housing for people that moved or want to move to the region, and the recent building boom will help reverse that trend. 

 

Who is going to fill these units? Young adults moving out of their parent's homes? People that currently live up island or the mainland? 

 

Having been inside a few of these projects lately, the other thing that has jumped out at me is the reduction of the size of the average rental unit. They don't seem to be large enough for two people. Are there more single people now than couples? It seems to me that there has been a change in the way we live. Am I getting too old to understand what's changing in our demographic make up?

 

I am having trouble digesting the math. Perhaps someone could enlighten me. 

 

Might seem vast but really it's a drop in the bucket compared to what is already built. 

 

We have ~400k people in Greater Vic now and the population is increasing by about 1% per year, which equals approx 4,000 more Victorians each and every year. If you assume an average of 2.5 persons per household (the Canadian average) that means we need 1,600 new homes every. single. year. 1,600 new homes equals the equivalent of over 9 Promontorys built every year...

 

Citified has done some pieces in the past on exactly how many housing units are being built. Typically we haven't been building enough new housing stock to cover population growth, which is why prices have increased so dramatically. 

[Nparker]

...Typically we haven't been building enough new housing stock to cover population growth, which is why prices have increased so dramatically. 

No! Prices have increased because we are building too much density! /s

[Greg]

As happens so often, it is the cities that ends up having to deal with things. Homelessness, mental health issues, addictions, poverty are all things that cities are forced to deal with because federal and provincial governments can't or won't do anything about it.

Housing seems to me to be one area where local knowledge and experience should contribute to locally-based solutions. By all means let's take their money, but I'd rather a local government official be involved than someone from Ottawa. This is just an extension of urban planning IMO.

 

 

The voting block on council moving us down this path does not have any "local knowledge and experience" about the problem at hand. That is why they are consistently promoting solutions that will clearly be counterproductive, and is the very core of the problem.

[spanky123]

Shifting demos Sparky.

 

https://www.citynews...stats-can-says/

 

No doubt younger people prefer to live alone. Is that a housing crisis though? Someone chooses to find their own place instead of having a roommate or partner and now it is society's problem to resolve?

[Nparker]

No doubt younger people prefer to live alone. Is that a housing crisis though? Someone chooses to find their own place instead of having a roommate or partner and now it is society's problem to resolve?

I am no longer a "younger person", nevertheless, I choose to live alone*. I expect to pay a premium for this.

* OK perhaps no one actually wants to live with me, but that's beside the point 

[sdwright.vic]

😂🤣

[Citified.ca]

Good work, Kapten!

 

Identified in blue is the future site of a 155-unit housing complex between the 1200-blocks of Gladstone Avenue and Grant Street adjacent to Victoria High School. Earmarked for nine lots, the project site will require a land swap between the City of Victoria and the School District of Greater Victoria in order to proceed.

 

155-units of affordable housing pitched for Vic High lands in Victoria's Fernwood neighbourhood

https://victoria.cit...-neighbourhood/

[Mike K.]

As Isitt pushes his City of Victoria-made affordable housing solution, the CEO of BC Housing has stated that government can't afford to build its way out of BC's housing crunch.

 

“Government can’t spend its way to create the rental housing that’s needed,” he said, noting that social housing – the core of BC Housing’s mandate – makes up 6% to 8% of the housing stock. “It’s really the private-sector development that’s going to be needed.”

Reducing approval times and creating an attractive tax environment are how government can help private builders deliver the housing that’s needed.

 

- https://biv.com/arti...-housing-crisis

 

Instead what we have is obstruction at the municipal level and a desire to paint the private development sector as the cause of housing problems. The fact that our municipal leaders have got this point so embarrassingly wrong is a perfect example of ideology leading the charge in lieu of facts and pragmatism.

[Nparker]

...that our municipal leaders have got this point so embarrassingly wrong is a perfect example of ideology leading the charge in lieu of facts and pragmatism.

That's the thing about ideologues at either end of the spectrum: they preach only to their choirs and refuse to listen to any opposing points of view.