Personal Vendettas

If anyone reads my Wet Coast Women site, I tend to use it as a bit of a platform for my..um..er..rants about the issues that really tick me off. These issues are usually local, Vancouver centric issues that I feel affect my family.

I have ranted about the Olympics a fair bit and the city is now really bracing for the impact.

To be honest I think the games will be great.  I think the big issues around the games will be what VANOC has been worried about in the first place..and that is getting around.   I also think they are MENTAL with making VISA the only credit card accepted at their venues, but not my decision AND since I am just a poor citizen of the city, I won't BE attending any of the events...too rich for my blood.

My other BIG rant is a personal one.  It is housing affordability.  Vancouver has just been listed as one of THE most unaffordable cities to live in.  Meaning the cost of housing vs. the median income is totally out of wack.

I am amazed if this is a surprise to ANYONE living and working in the Lower Mainland.  

Vancouver has no industry.  No big head offices.  No specialized economy.  Nothing draws people here except the weather and the scenery.   Except for real estate and the ease to avoid taxation etc.   Real Estate Development IS the economy of Vancouver.   Condos are bought up site unseen over and over by offshore buyers.

I was talking to our mortgage specialist at the bank the other day, and she says she has many clients who have never stepped one foot into Canada, yet own multiple properties.

This not only keeps the real estate prices high, but the rental rates too.  Vancouver has an almost zero percent vacancy rate and renters are constantly fighting to maintain FAIR rents.

So while VANOC, and City Hall and the Provincial Government toot the horn of 'Super Natural BC,' and our beautiful 'World Class City,' the flaws are JUST under the surface and they really need to stop sweeping them all under the scenic carpets that we have in this gorgeous part of Canada.

VANOC and the city was faced with our one big issue that will be near impossible to hide during the Olympics, and that is our homeless issue.

And it is a huge issue and the plight of the people focused on the Downtown East Side absolutely HAS to be addressed.

However, this report about the high price of living here shows to me a more pressing issue, and that is the increasing difficulty for the middle income earners and the working poor to exist in the city they would like to call home and work for a living in.

It is a pressing issue and for me, a personal one.  We are a single income family.  By choice, for sure. We decided having kids was important for us and why work when all my income would then be sunk into daycare fees?  

We are also an entrepreneurial family.  My husband until now has supported us with his own writing career. So finding housing that we could enjoy and afford was important to us.  We have also wanted to stay in Vancouver because that was where our family was.

So we rent.  And we were lucky enough to rent with the Metro Vancouver Housing Corp, that provided lower income rentals across the Lower Mainland.  We got into a good area with lots of family friendly amenities, good schools and transit.

The complex if filled with what you would categorize as 'blue collar,' 'working class' families.  There are also many single parents too.

Everyone balances their budgets and makes do.  Everyone works hard to support their families.  But there are no luxuries.

People live in these houses because they have to.  And it works for them.

But they are raising our rents. Gradually they will keep raising them over the next few years to what the CMHC has decided is market rates for our area.  This will have a huge impact on many families.

We were basically told by the management that if you don't like it...get out.  We were told we had been 'lucky' to have the rents we had and there was  thousands of people on the waiting lists.

And yes..we are grateful for the rents...and the location....and the quality.  Because we worry about the alternative.  Where in town would a family live that are on a fixed income?

So now that my husband has a good job and we have some savings, once again we contemplate buying. However, buying means moving out of Vancouver and then LONG commutes for my husband.  But we could never ever afford to buy a place big enough for our family in Vancouver.

I am in awe of the families that do manage.

I am angry too.  Angry at the politicians that don't want to deal with the issue.  I am angry at a city that has been so focused on real estate development that has totally ignored logical urban planning.  We are being taken over by condos.   We are told density is the key.   But really is it?  Do we want to be like Hong Kong?  Do we want to be a city of cramped tiny dwellings?  Do we need to be?

I am angry at the Federal Government too.  They used to support co-operative housing and organizations like the one we live in.  They no longer do.

The focus has been on the those at the bottom of the pile, while those struggling to get by, pay taxes, work hard, are forgotten.

I wonder what Vancouver will do if there is no housing for the people who basically build the infrastructure of the city.   The people who fix your car, sell you your food, who try to WORK for the small businesses that struggle in Vancouver.  

I don't think ONE teacher at my child's school actually lives in Vancouver, let alone anywhere near the school.   Not ONE of the preschool teachers at our local preschool lived in the city.   

For a city with a nightmarish transit system, pushing people further out is not the key.

Providing a MIX of housing.  Housing for all incomes is the key.    Remembering that FAMILIES like to live in Vancouver also would help.   I don't want to cram my family of 5 into a tiny condo in Yaletown.  I don't want to be that trendy thank you very much.

I won't be renting one of these places.

Suffice it to say, I will be keeping up my campaign.   I will keep emailing and tweeting my politicians.  

Geoff Meggs a Vancouver City Councilor AND on the board of my housing complex, actually had the decency to not only speak to me via email about it all, but responded to my post on Wet Coast Women.

I thank him for that.

I haven't heard a PEEP from anyone else.  I have tried to contact my Federal Rep - Mr. Ujjal Dosanjh on the issue, as well as Libby Davies who is a big fighter for affordable housing.   I even contacted the BC NDP, but nothing.  I haven't even bothered contacting any Conservative MP's.  Why bother? 

And apparently our Mayor is too busy with Olympic photo opportunities to deal with key issues in his own city.

I am very sad at the state of Vancouver.  Yes it is still beautiful.  The weather is great. The scenery is amazing.  But the cost of living creeps higher and higher, with little reward.

The people in my complex can't afford to ski on those pretty slopes.  Or hang out at the picture perfect eateries in Yaletown or Granville Island.  Most of them can't even afford to take their kids to the Aquarium or Science World.  

They are just trying to survive.   They work hard and deserve a lot more than they currently get from this city.

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Original Canada Moms Blog post, Kerry also writes about her life,  and her kids at Crunchy Carpets. She also posts at the community site for women bloggers on the west coast,  Wet Coast Women.