Cost of housing in Canada

[Colin Parkinson]

WAC Bennett would have decided to punch a railway North into Ontario if he was Premier of Ontario now.

 

[daftandbarmy]

The only way to get ahead of housing inflation is to make more & more money, quickly. Expecting the Government to rescue us is akin to waiting for magical life boats to appear on the deck of the Titanic. Mostly because their policies and laws are part of the problem.

My opinion is it's a dog-eat-dog World out there and the only way to get ahead is to out hustle the hustlers.

Like, you know, just turning up for work on time and being a stand out employee

 

[Halifax Tar]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1838294599389057194

Ford in Cobourg telling the homeless to get a job to get out of the homeless encampments.

Cobourg isn’t exactly cheap right now for someone with a decent job, let alone one who is homeless and probably has zero money. It’s not like the new employees will magically make enough to get rent right away.

I definitely think people should work, but “get a job, hippie” bootstrapping isn’t a quick solution.

Its refreshing to hear a major political leader talk that candidly, of course it also feeds into my biases.

Migrate. Go where the opportunity is. As alluded too, hustle!

 

[dimsum]

Its refreshing to hear a major political leader talk that candidly, of course it also feeds into my biases.

Migrate. Go where the opportunity is. As alluded too, hustle!

Yes but he’s talking about homeless people, not economic migrants.

I agree with migrating for better jobs, but this is a different issue that he is talking about.

 

[Halifax Tar]

Yes but he’s talking about homeless people, not economic migrants.

I agree with migrating for better jobs, but this is a different issue that he is talking about.

Get off your ass and start working is exactly what I am talking about. Get off your ass and create your opportunity.

We have lots of homeless people who are economic migrants in Halifax. Its better to be homeless with a support system you can siphon off of like HRM than Yarmouth or Meat Cove.

 

[RangerRay]

I don’t know. Most of the homeless I see struggle to remember to put their underwear on before they put their pants on. I’m guessing that a majority of them would not be able to hold down a job, much less get hired by someone, even if they wanted to.

 

[Furniture]

I don’t know. Most of the homeless I see struggle to remember to put their underwear on before they put their pants on. I’m guessing that a majority of them would not be able to hold down a job, much less get hired by someone, even if they wanted to.

The vast majority of homeless are as you describe; So ruined by drugs that they are no longer likely able to function at all in society, so they are left to die on the streets with a needle in their arm.

Those weren't the ones the premier was addressing though. There is a small minority of homeless who are there by choice, because they choose to not conform to what society expects of them. Those are the target, and the target audience are the people struggling to keep their heads above water while the government throws cash at people who can't/won't contribute, but instead are just a drain on the system.

 

[FSTO]

I see a lot of the homeless are barely handling the chore of putting their clothes on! But there likely is a bunch of folks who are able but bitch and moan that the system is against them.

Case in point, my partner's sister. She has had a rough go with gaslighting and or abusive relationships that coupled with her excessive drinking, paranoia and low self esteem has made her an extremely abusive person to folks who try to give her a hand up. My partner has tried several times to help her out but get nothing but verbal abuse (especially after a bout of wine drinking). It is rather depressing to see a functional person eventually become a liability because they refuse to accept the hand that tries to help!

 

[Rifleman62]

They have been in Canada since 2018. Father apparently doesn't speak English. The family has eight kids. Nobody works. Canadian gov't settled them in Metro Vancouver.

What's wrong with this?

Syrian family’s dreams shattered by Canada’s housing crisis with 3rd eviction notice​

 

[Halifax Tar]

They have been in Canada since 2018. Father apparently doesn't speak English. The family has eight kids. Nobody works. Canadian gov't settled them in Metro Vancouver.

What's wrong with this?

Syrian family’s dreams shattered by Canada’s housing crisis with 3rd eviction notice​

Sorry this isn't working out. Back you go,.

 

[Furniture]

Sorry this isn't working out. Back you go,.

I'm not quite so heartless... but I'm not much less heartless.

I think in situations like that, they family should be placed in a lower CoL location, and there should be official language training/proficiency, as well as employment requirements for those who are living on the government's dime after the immediate crisis.

 

[Eaglelord17]

Yes there is plenty of people who could work that don’t, the other side of it is what incentive do they have to work?

When your average rent in the major cities is at least 2500$ how is your lower class expected to afford it? If you can never get ahead no matter how much or little you work you aren’t even going to try.

Our society actively shuts down things that could loosen the burden and costs, yet expects everyone to pay when they can’t necessarily afford it.

If working gets you to the same place not working gets you, you would be stupid to go to work.

 

[Halifax Tar]

I'm not quite so heartless... but I'm not much less heartless.

I think in situations like that, they family should be placed in a lower CoL location, and there should be official language training/proficiency, as well as employment requirements for those who are living on the government's dime after the immediate crisis.

I think we have invested enough money into this black hole. Time to cut our losses.

Yes there is plenty of people who could work that don’t, the other side of it is what incentive do they have to work?

When your average rent in the major cities is at least 2500$ how is your lower class expected to afford it? If you can never get ahead no matter how much or little you work you aren’t even going to try.

Our society actively shuts down things that could loosen the burden and costs, yet expects everyone to pay when they can’t necessarily afford it.

If working gets you to the same place not working gets you, you would be stupid to go to work.

I'm cool with people who want to have a pity party and quit, just don't expect my tax dollars to fund them for it.

 

[foresterab]

The only way to get ahead of housing inflation is to make more & more money, quickly. Expecting the Government to rescue us is akin to waiting for magical life boats to appear on the deck of the Titanic. Mostly because their policies and laws are part of the problem.

My opinion is it's a dog-eat-dog World out there and the only way to get ahead is to out hustle the hustlers.

Or if you can't afford the house you need to change your spending patterns. There's a reason I rented, had roommates into my mid-30's even after buying my own house, do my own repairs and we try to avoid eating out a ton. Extra overtime is earned when possible and thankfully my partner is on the same page which allowed us to be mortgage and debt free while the family is still young. But that's a combination of a metric ton of time away from home to earn the OT, being smart for years and some luck....

There was no way we'd be in the position if I followed government advice or experts advice. Sweat, effort and a long push...not just a week here or a day there...but years to get to this point.

 

[RangerRay]

Sounds like boosting supply and doing nothing to undermine the market value of residential real estate, which all parties favour in one way or another, will do nothing to make housing more affordable.

Terry Glavin: What if our housing crisis can't be fixed?

No easy way to return Canada's residential real estate markets to 'normal'

nationalpost.com

 

[Brad Sallows]

Sounds like boosting supply and doing nothing to undermine the market value of residential real estate, which all parties favour in one way or another, will do nothing to make housing more affordable.

The top quintile of income earners are in a different league from everyone else; citing housing cost figures from areas in which those people can compete in bidding wars doesn't tell us much. Supply conventionally should be expected to undermine prices. Anyone who argues against the basic economic idea of how prices are affected by supply and demand has to show their work with more than anecdotes and spot checks. Also, saying "we increased supply but it didn't work" most likely means we didn't increase supply enough to matter, not that it won't work. Supply has to grow in places where the costs of land are still reasonable, and has to grow by an amount sufficient to affect prices. Governments are fighting against the tide, trying to increase density when the inclination of a lot of people is to live in lower density.

And all of the demand side stuff - immigration, various ways of shovelling money at people directly and indirectly - has to be meaningfully trimmed. Adding more households aggravates prices. Helping a few people at the margins move from "can't afford" to "can afford" through various publicly-funded benefits just adds bidders to the pile and aggravates prices.

 

[Furniture]

The top quintile of income earners are in a different league from everyone else; citing housing cost figures from areas in which those people can compete in bidding wars doesn't tell us much. Supply conventionally should be expected to undermine prices. Anyone who argues against the basic economic idea of how prices are affected by supply and demand has to show their work with more than anecdotes and spot checks. Also, saying "we increased supply but it didn't work" most likely means we didn't increase supply enough to matter, not that it won't work. Supply has to grow in places where the costs of land are still reasonable, and has to grow by an amount sufficient to affect prices. Governments are fighting against the tide, trying to increase density when the inclination of a lot of people is to live in lower density.

And all of the demand side stuff - immigration, various ways of shovelling money at people directly and indirectly - has to be meaningfully trimmed. Adding more households aggravates prices. Helping a few people at the margins move from "can't afford" to "can afford" through various publicly-funded benefits just adds bidders to the pile and aggravates prices.

My only point of contention with this is the notion that housing supply needs to grow in low cost areas.

Those low cost areas have a low cost because there isn't a job market there to support a large enough population to make it expensive. A bunch of "cheap" houses in Timmons doesn't help when people can't get jobs to pay for those houses.

Density is the solution for our cities. More density, in units designed to appeal to young professionals and small families.

 

[Brad Sallows]

My only point of contention with this is the notion that housing supply needs to grow in low cost areas.

Those low cost areas have a low cost because there isn't a job market there to support a large enough population to make it expensive. A bunch of "cheap" houses in Timmons doesn't help when people can't get jobs to pay for those houses.

Density is the solution for our cities. More density, in units designed to appeal to young professionals and small families.

The "low cost"* areas I have in mind are the intermediate-sized cities (say, <150K population) and suburb municipalities. Basically, the "places people can work" have to spread out. The larger municipalities will fight that change energetically to protect their commercial tax bases. They have to be opposed by provincial governments and the municipalities that stand to gain.

A few years back I considered relative prices for housing. For what my reasonably average house was worth in its textbook Lower Mainland suburb, I could have had waterfront on the Saanich peninsula, an executive-style home in a BC interior city, or a condo/apartment in Vancouver. What lifestyles do people want, I wonder?

There are some enterprises - high finance, in particular - that will remain in mega-city cores because most of the people playing the game can afford to live nearby. Many companies, though, can relocate parts if not the whole. They would save money on real estate and take off some of the pressure to raise employee compensation by shifting to lower cost-of-living areas. The hardest part for the municipalities is simply to supply the basics (eg. extending sewer and water services) and find their own balances of low-, moderate-, and high-density housing.

*relatively speaking; housing costs are undesirably high almost everywhere but there's a difference between "difficult" and "out-of-reach".

 

[mariomike]

Home buyers / sellers may find this of interest,

 

[CountDC]

well don't look to Toronto for a solution. Developers are making tiny condos geared to investors that are now pulling out as they realize they cannot get the rent to cover the mortgage and condo fees. Developers are left with unsold units and looking for the government to help them out of the situation they helped create. There are last I saw over 3000 condos up for sale.