1731 replies to this topic

[Mike K.]

What do those percentages mean, exactly? That 52% of Vic West's population is single?

[VicHockeyFan]

What do those percentages mean, exactly? That 52% of Vic West's population is single?

 

Yes, which might not mean you live alone, but you are not married or living common-law.  And I'll presume it's just adults that are sampled and reported here, most kids are single already.  And it would be awkward if a few 11-year-olds answered "married" when the cencus-guy shows up at the door, so they likely just don't ask...

[Mike K.]

Ok, which means that the City of Victoria, at least, with its 80,000+ residents, is far closer to 1 person in one unit than, say, Langford.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if we've dropped below 1.8 people per dwelling since the 2.2 figure was released (10 years ago?). A huge swath of units being built right now are targeted specifically at single occupants. I mean lots of new buildings have absolutely zero two-bedroom units, and some (like Azzurro on Blanshard) consist entirely of studios.

[LeoVictoria]

Ok, which means that the City of Victoria, at least, with its 80,000+ residents, is far closer to 1 person in one unit than, say, Langford.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if we've dropped below 1.8 people per dwelling since the 2.2 figure was released (10 years ago?). A huge swath of units being built right now are targeted specifically at single occupants. I mean lots of new buildings have absolutely zero two-bedroom units, and some (like Azzurro on Blanshard) consist entirely of studios.

 

I would be unbelievably surprised if it was 1.8 since it only declined from 2.3 to 2.2 in the preceeding 10 years.  https://www12.statca...nd=144&disp=144

[Mike K.]

Perhaps 1.8 is optimistic, but the point is the projections show a decline in the number of individuals living in the region's homes and we're going to see a further decline when 2016 statistics are released.

 

So the moral of the story is if our growth continues at 1% per annum then our rate of construction needs to maintain this level of construction if not one higher than what we're seeing.

[LeoVictoria]

Perhaps 1.8 is optimistic, but the point is the projections show a decline in the number of individuals living in the region's homes and we're going to see a further decline when 2016 statistics are released.

 

So the moral of the story is if our growth continues at 1% per annum then our rate of construction needs to maintain this level of construction if not one higher than what we're seeing.

 

Agreed.  And all signs point up on construction so I don't think there's a problem.   Back to topic, the AirBnB visitors are on top of the population growth.  If those new builds are being put on AirBnB instead of being rented out or owner occupied then it very well could not be sufficient construction.  

 

Edited by LeoVictoria, 02 September 2016 - 11:00 AM.

[VicHockeyFan]

Air BnB VANCOUVER advocacy TV commercials running during tonight's Blue Jays game.

 

ie. "when Air BnB guests stay in Vancouver, they spend more dollars on yada yada yada "

[SusanJones]

Someone recently made this statement in a meeting I attended - "vacation rentals are a cause of homelessness"

What are your thoughts?

Do you believe vacation rentals is the cause of homelessness? Contributes to homelessness? 

Cause for the current low percentage of rentals available for long-term (6 months or more)?

Others claim a need to preserve 'community' neighbourhoods - save them from turning into

hotel type districts. Do you believe vacation rentals are degrading neighbourhoods in Greater Victoria?

Is the definition of "neighbourhood" being disrupted? is this ok? not ok? or was the neighbourhood disrupted some

time ago by something other than vacation rentals?  

Lots of questions and looking forward to your thoughts.  Thank you.

[Mike K.]

No, that's perhaps the silliest statement to come out of the "rental crisis."

 

What causes housing affordability issues is a lack of housing, not AirBnB. What also causes affordability issues is a lack of jobs ...which tourism ensures the region has, and AirBnB is now a major part of Victoria's tourism industry whether objectors like it or not.

 

Over the last decade the urban core of the region has lost some 600 hotel rooms as older hotels get converted into rentals (like the recently announced Harbour Towers conversion that will remove nearly 200 hotel rooms), or simply close, like the Plaza. By the end of the decade we'll have lost about 1,000 hotel rooms together with many motel spaces along Gorge Road or at former Travellers Inn's.

 

In other words, the "AirBnB causes homelessness" argument is about as silly as Sid Tafler's counts of lights on in condos as a factual determinant of absentee ownership.

[LeoVictoria]

Doesn't hold a lot of water. Most of homelessness is caused by mental health and drug issues. There are very few homeless people that just can't afford a place as the primary reason they are homeless

Edited by LeoVictoria, 17 September 2016 - 06:44 AM.

[VicHockeyFan]

Homelessness here is caused by Victoria being a national magnet for street people.

 

I think we've already determined we have the largest amount of homeless people as a percentage of the population in all of Canada, if not all of North America.

 

It's way too easy to be homeless here.

 

Panhandling bylaws are not enforced, petty crimes are not responded to, possession of narcotics is not pursued as a crime, and of course you get all the free stuff you want - more or less when you want, on demand - from providers like Our Place.   Our Place is the largest cause of homelessness here.  It causes more homelessness than it "cures".

[spanky123]

Someone recently made this statement in a meeting I attended - "vacation rentals are a cause of homelessness"

What are your thoughts?

Do you believe vacation rentals is the cause of homelessness? Contributes to homelessness? 

Cause for the current low percentage of rentals available for long-term (6 months or more)?

Others claim a need to preserve 'community' neighbourhoods - save them from turning into

hotel type districts. Do you believe vacation rentals are degrading neighbourhoods in Greater Victoria?

Is the definition of "neighbourhood" being disrupted? is this ok? not ok? or was the neighbourhood disrupted some

time ago by something other than vacation rentals?  

Lots of questions and looking forward to your thoughts.  Thank you.

 

The simple fact is that in the past 18 months the number of Airbnb units listed in Victoria has gone from a couple hundred to a couple thousand. During the same period of time rental vacancy has gone from bad to horrible. You can draw a correlation if you want or you can find some other explanation. As far as I know, nobody has properly studied the impact of Airbnb or absentee ownership in Victoria so people will just continue to speculate.

[LeoVictoria]

The simple fact is that in the past 18 months the number of Airbnb units listed in Victoria has gone from a couple hundred to a couple thousand. During the same period of time rental vacancy has gone from bad to horrible. You can draw a correlation if you want or you can find some other explanation. As far as I know, nobody has properly studied the impact of Airbnb or absentee ownership in Victoria so people will just continue to speculate.

Airbnb definitely has an effect on rents and vacancies, but homelessness? I doubt it but at best very indirectly.

[VicHockeyFan]

The simple fact is that in the past 18 months the number of Airbnb units listed in Victoria has gone from a couple hundred to a couple thousand. During the same period of time rental vacancy has gone from bad to horrible. You can draw a correlation if you want or you can find some other explanation. As far as I know, nobody has properly studied the impact of Airbnb or absentee ownership in Victoria so people will just continue to speculate.

 

I have yet to meet a person that has been unable to find housing, despite our "crisis".

[spanky123]

Airbnb definitely has an effect on rents and vacancies, but homelessness? I doubt it but at best very indirectly.

 

Not directly but a fairly common story I hear from people on the streets is that they came to Victoria to visit a friend (or whatever) and had no idea how expensive rents were or how competitive it was to find a spot (ie when a dozen people are all vying for the same vacancy the guy with no references and no job isn't the one at the top of the list). After they crash with friends for a few weeks they wind up running the shelter circuit downtown.

[MarkoJ]

I think I mentioned I had clients who have parents visiting them months' at a time each year who stay in the suite; therefore, they would never rent the suite but they have the ability to do AirBnB.  That is one example of AirBnB not taking a unit out of the rental market pool.

 

A few days ago I came across another one. I went to see some clients and they had accommodation with a small kitchenette within the house.  Like you go through the front door of the main home and then to the AirBnB accommodation.  Basically the setup would not work in terms of renting it out to someone.

 

It would be interesting, but probably impossible to try and figure out what percentage of AirBnB operations would otherwise be rented on a monthly basis.  I am see a few that definitively wouldn’t be for various reasons.

[Mike K.]

This AirBnB paranoia just can't be put to rest.

[North Shore]

We have a friend who has a VRBO/AirBNB downtown. I suppose you could make the argument that their rental bumps everyone one down the totem until the bottom guy falls off, but I have a hard time thinking that their $500k condo is going to be affordable for the homeless in the first place.. 

[VicHockeyFan]

This AirBnB paranoia just can't be put to rest.

 

Ya, lots of crazy malarkey.  It's reasonable to assume also that dozens of people are making a living cleaning downtown units, and greeting guests, dropping keys etc.  Some kooks might suggest that without those jobs, these people would be homeless.

[Mike K.]

Of course, we're on our way to converting 1,000 hotel and motel units to rentals but that's conveniently left out of the narrative.

Should we be hunting down people with spare bedrooms and deriding them for not offering that space to renters looking for shared accommodations?