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Affordable housing in Victoria


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#1861 rmpeers

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Posted 05 July 2019 - 08:04 AM

A sweeping zoning change under consideration by Victoria council to ensure purpose-built rental buildings remain rental is being met with dismay by landlords and the development community


“This is a non-starter,” said David Hutniak, CEO of Landlord B.C.





Coun. Ben Isitt called for a “streamlined” approach to consultation.

“I think recognizing that we’re going to be far from, I think, unanimous support in the community for this approach. So ideally, not consuming too much staff resources, if possible, between now and [when] it comes to a more formal public hearing process would be my preference,” Isitt said.




https://www.timescol...-way-1.23876766


Ha, Chancellor Isitt has spoken. What need could their be for consultation? The Stable Genius knows what is good for you and, in any case he has his own private army installed on council to make sure no dissent is tolerated.
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#1862 spanky123

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Posted 05 July 2019 - 08:32 AM

Ha, Chancellor Isitt has spoken. What need could their be for consultation? The Stable Genius knows what is good for you and, in any case he has his own private army installed on council to make sure no dissent is tolerated.


Fair enough but there are often more than 5 people voting in favour of these motions.

#1863 Nparker

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Posted 05 July 2019 - 08:37 AM

...there are often more than 5 people voting in favour of these motions.

Well the rest of CoV council isn't all that great either.



#1864 sebberry

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Posted 05 July 2019 - 11:19 AM

Also if anyone’s interested in signing a petition asking council to listen to the experts and roll back the 20% to 10% it can be found here:
http://chng.it/CZLjbL8dVP

 

Pointless.  It'll get to 100 and the activists will send out an email blast to their supporters and effectively nullify the whole thing.


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#1865 DavidL

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Posted 05 July 2019 - 11:24 AM

Pointless.  It'll get to 100 and the activists will send out an email blast to their supporters and effectively nullify the whole thing.

 

Probably, but it's something that may lay a foundation for something else that could lead to something else.  Have to start somewhere, and maybe something like this gets more people involved.


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#1866 spanky123

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Posted 05 July 2019 - 01:00 PM

Well the rest of CoV council isn't all that great either.

 

Just checked the vote and only Geoff Young voted against the rental tenure plan. It also wasn't Ben Isitt who brought this forward. It was a staff presentation which usually means it was the Mayor that directed it. After the vote on the rental tenure, the Mayor commented she suspected we were going to see "more and more of this" since it was a key priority of her strategic plan.

 

I am not saying Ben is not onboard with this but if you are a developer/ land owner in town then you should be aware of who is driving the agenda here. 


Edited by spanky123, 05 July 2019 - 01:06 PM.

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#1867 Jackerbie

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Posted 05 July 2019 - 01:16 PM

^ I have no idea what the organization structure is at CoV, but don't forget about the senior management staff, i.e. the un-elected directors, CAO, GMs, etc. They also drive the agenda behind the scenes.



#1868 spanky123

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Posted 05 July 2019 - 01:51 PM

^ I have no idea what the organization structure is at CoV, but don't forget about the senior management staff, i.e. the un-elected directors, CAO, GMs, etc. They also drive the agenda behind the scenes.


The Mayor decided what goes on the agenda and is the one who liaises with staff. Nobody is writing a report because Ben asked them to.

#1869 aastra

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Posted 05 July 2019 - 05:50 PM

Here's that magic 20% number from the memory hole:

 

 

Vancouver Sun
02 August 1990

B.C. rental crisis worst in country: Situation 'gross' for Victoria, Vancouver

The rental housing crisis in Victoria and Vancouver is worse than anywhere else in Canada, a new study shows.

"For renters, the situation appears to be deteriorating," researcher Gwyn Simmons told a forum in Victoria yesterday.

Simmons was hired by the Capital Regional District to look at rental housing problems and recommend solutions.

He found the proportion of renters paying more than 30 per cent of their gross incomes for housing was higher in Greater Victoria than anywhere else in Canada.

Simmons says that about 20 per cent of Victoria renters were paying more than half their gross income for rent.

Social planners generally say no one should have to pay more than 30 per cent of their income for housing.

But using census figures, Simmons found that 48 per cent of Victoria's renters were in fact paying more than that. In Vancouver, the figure was 45 per cent.

Simmons says the problem has worsened in the past year or so because "rent increases are generally outpacing incomes."

Moreover, he says, the problem is likely to continue to worsen because the region is facing a severe shortage of land zoned and serviced for rental housing.

The average rent increase in the past year has been 11 per cent.

Simmons and his co-consultants make three dozen recommendations that they believe could help ease the problem.

They suggest municipalities should require new subdivisions and housing projects to include 20 per cent of their units as "affordable rental units."


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#1870 LJ

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Posted 05 July 2019 - 07:18 PM

^ I have no idea what the organization structure is at CoV, but don't forget about the senior management staff, i.e. the un-elected directors, CAO, GMs, etc. They also drive the agenda behind the scenes.

Don't forget the city family and the bike mayor.


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#1871 Nparker

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Posted 06 July 2019 - 07:38 AM

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

The editorial in praise of developers, suggesting they will meet all housing needs in the city, if the council will just get out of their way, is wishful thinking, and naïve, to say the least... It is up the the mayor and council to look at the bigger picture of creating affordable housing for the citizens and respond to the electorate petitions...Why not build a highrise of 100 per cent affordable housing?...

https://www.timescol...tals-1.23877591

VT.jpg

Need I say more?


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#1872 Nparker

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Posted 06 July 2019 - 07:50 AM

Lots of questionable fodder in today's TC

 ...The United Kingdom has council houses. These are well-built houses and apartments that provide secure tenancies and healthy homes for working families. The local governments used the land they owned near schools and jobs...


https://www.timescol...tals-1.23877591

 

Public housing in the United Kingdom provided the majority of rented accommodation in the country until 2011...[these] included many large suburban "council estates" and numerous urban developments featuring tower blocks. Many of these developments did not live up to the hopes of their supporters, and now suffer from urban blight...

https://en.wikipedia..._United_Kingdom

Is this really the housing model we'd like to see enacted locally?



#1873 aastra

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Posted 06 July 2019 - 09:48 AM

 

...It is up the the mayor and council to look at the bigger picture of creating affordable housing for the citizens and respond to the electorate petitions...Why not build a highrise of 100 per cent affordable housing?...

 

 

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

 

In Victoria's case it's not really being doomed to repeat history. It's more like an insatiable enthusiasm to repeat history. Victorians learn from their mistakes all too well. They study them, they master them. And then they repeat them.


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#1874 DavidL

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Posted 06 July 2019 - 10:20 AM

More from today's TC:

"What I see displayed here is a fear that the interests of a small group of well-financed developers building for what one can assume will be largely well-heeled buyers from Calgary, Toronto or overseas — largely non-residents — are more important than the hundreds, if not thousands of Victoria residents who can not afford to buy, or often rent here because of the high cost of both.

It is also common knowledge that upscaling building owners frequently “renovate” their rentals here for sale, thus lowering local rental stock and increasing homelessness..."

Nothing like trotting out the trope of non-resident buyers dominating the real estate landscape, which ALL the data we have says is not the case.  And not to nit pick but are the hundreds, if not thousands, according to the letter writer, of Victoria residents who can neither buy nor rent here actually Victoria residents?  


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#1875 spanky123

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Posted 06 July 2019 - 10:35 AM

 

More from today's TC:

"What I see displayed here is a fear that the interests of a small group of well-financed developers building for what one can assume will be largely well-heeled buyers from Calgary, Toronto or overseas — largely non-residents — are more important than the hundreds, if not thousands of Victoria residents who can not afford to buy, or often rent here because of the high cost of both.

 

It is also common knowledge that upscaling building owners frequently “renovate” their rentals here for sale, thus lowering local rental stock and increasing homelessness..."

Nothing like trotting out the trope of non-resident buyers dominating the real estate landscape, which ALL the data we have says is not the case.  And not to nit pick but are the hundreds, if not thousands, according to the letter writer, of Victoria residents who can neither buy nor rent here actually Victoria residents?  

 

 

 

I think that you need to segment the market a little when looking where the buyers are coming from. I 100% agree that for entry level condos in the downtown core the vast majority of buyers are local. If you look at the higher end units such as the ones at Customs House or in the Songhees, many of the buyers are from out of town. If that was not the case then we wouldn't be having developers spending hundreds of thousands trying to get the spec tax overturned.

 

Drawing reference to the City's own OCP, all of the population growth in the region in the next 20 years will be coming from retirees, most of whom are retiring here from other areas. Once they move here they are resident owners, but they will be competing against people who are already here and vying for the same housing.


Edited by spanky123, 06 July 2019 - 10:37 AM.


#1876 aastra

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Posted 06 July 2019 - 10:36 AM

 

...for what one can assume will be largely well-heeled buyers from Calgary, Toronto or overseas

 

Victorians have been trying to scapegoat evil outsiders in every way, shape, or form for such a long time, apparently the variations have been exhausted. So now the entire world is the bogeyman.



#1877 Mike K.

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Posted 06 July 2019 - 10:39 AM

I think that you need to segment the market a little when looking where the buyers are coming from. I 100% agree that for entry level condos in the downtown core the vast majority of buyers are local. If you look at the higher end units such as the ones at Customs House or in the Songhees, many of the buyers are from out of town. If that was not the case then we wouldn't be having developers spending hundreds of thousands trying to get the spec tax overturned.

Drawing reference to the City's own OCP, all of the population growth in the region will be coming from retirees, most of whom are retiring here from other areas. Once they move here they are resident owners, but they will be competing against people who are already here and vying for the same housing.

The majority of buyers at Customs House are locals. Many of them are selling their SFD’s to finance the purchase, and they’ve held off for that exact caliber of project before commiting to their downsizing plan.

Customs House absolutely stands apart from the flock and it’ll be home to a who’s-who of Victoria’s upper crust of society.

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#1878 aastra

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Posted 06 July 2019 - 10:40 AM

 

If you look at the higher end units such as the ones at Customs House or in the Songhees, many of the buyers are from out of town.

 

Of course, but the most exceptional homes and units have always been that way (everywhere, not just in Victoria) and always will be that way. They're the most exceptional homes and units.

 

What's the relevance? Units in the Custom House or the penthouses on the Songhees are so few in number, they have no relevance to the affordable housing discussion. Are we going to revise history and claim the expensive apartments on those sites somehow evicted masses of ordinary people from their happy homes?



#1879 Mike K.

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Posted 06 July 2019 - 10:43 AM

I’d also like to challenge the “building owners frequently ‘renovate’ their rentals here for sale” matter-of-fact claim made by the letter writer.

It’s just more bafflegab.

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#1880 spanky123

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Posted 06 July 2019 - 10:44 AM

Of course, but the most exceptional homes and units have always been that way (everywhere, not just in Victoria) and always will be that way. They're the most exceptional homes and units.

 

What's the relevance? Units in the Custom House or the penthouses on the Songhees are so few in number, they have no relevance to the affordable housing discussion. Are we going to revise history and claim the expensive apartments on those sites somehow evicted masses of ordinary people from their happy homes?

 

Never said it was a big number, but that you can't just dismiss it altogether. 



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