Rant about housing policies + bonus rant

Post Reply New Topic

Slow incremental changes aren’t enough to meet housing demand asap.

The rental market is so tight that the average rent for a 1 bedroom apartment in Vancouver has hit $2945/mo in a city where the average salary is $62k. We need 6 storey apartment buildings, not duplexes.

There is an empty homes tax for completely empty properties no one lives in. This got some of them rented, but even as the empty home tax increased rich people just pay it as a cost of their investment/vacation home. The tax would be unaffordable to us, but it’s nothing to some of them.

I think it's interesting that in the USA and Canada, self-identified leftist progressives want affordable housing, but they also want all of the housing to be open and spacious and have luxury quality. I recently had a conversation with someone who used the fact that you couldn't rent a two bedroom apartment with 30% of a minimum wage income to support one of his arguments (I don't remember what the argument was). Back when there were actually leftist countries, they gave people affordable housing, sure, but affordable housing meant a small room for your whole family on the fifth floor of a concrete building with no elevator.

I would actually support these types of commie blocks, because they would really put a dent in rent, and I personally don't need a lot of space. Unfortunately, people think they're an "eyesore" and would rather pay 60% of their paycheck on rent than have to look at rectangular buildings.

Certainly, more apartment buildings are needed, with good public transportation access.

Too much "Open and spacious" housing, with its inevitable accompanying need for cars, is not only expensive but also very fuel-inefficient and thus one of the main causes of climate change. High-density housing is much "greener" in terms of its actual effect on the Earth.