Feb. 3rd 2018 BC Liberal leadership race megathread

[Vega]

Could the housing crisis have been avoided?

[Vega]

Miles, that's total crap! If Vancouver had much more public housing and didn't have zoning that benefits long lines of single-family houses in very very trendy, well-speculated land, housing would not be nearly the issue it is now.

It could have been lessened but not eliminated, any big city with limited space is going to have cost issues.  See New York City, Toronto, San Francisco, Paris, Sydney, London etc which have similar issues.  On Zoning, more forsight could have been used in terms of more high rises but you can only build in vacant spaces which there isn't much of unless you want to scrap the ALR, which wouldn't go over well and would hurt on food security.  In terms of social housing, unlike the UK and many European countries, social housing is actually quite limited in Canada in general for reason I am not exactly sure why, but never really become common like it did in much of Europe.

Vancouver has less than 1 million people, so it seems strange that it is such an issue. I understand what you're saying, though.

[Vega]

Miles, that's total crap! If Vancouver had much more public housing and didn't have zoning that benefits long lines of single-family houses in very very trendy, well-speculated land, housing would not be nearly the issue it is now.

It could have been lessened but not eliminated, any big city with limited space is going to have cost issues.  See New York City, Toronto, San Francisco, Paris, Sydney, London etc which have similar issues.  On Zoning, more forsight could have been used in terms of more high rises but you can only build in vacant spaces which there isn't much of unless you want to scrap the ALR, which wouldn't go over well and would hurt on food security.  In terms of social housing, unlike the UK and many European countries, social housing is actually quite limited in Canada in general for reason I am not exactly sure why, but never really become common like it did in much of Europe.

Vancouver has less than 1 million people, so it seems strange that it is such an issue. I understand what you're saying, though.

Greater Vancouver has 2 million people.  Also it is the most beautiful city in Canada, while asides from Victoria only other city where temperatures are generally above freezing in the winter.  To make matters worse it is geographically limited on how far it can expand outwards.  Ocean to the West, mountains to the north, US border to the south so only eastward but because that is some of the best farmland in BC and food security is desired much of the Fraser Valley is part of the ALR thus off limits to development.  So while not as big as most expensive cities, it cannot expand as far and also the climate.  Another barrier is height restrictions on skyscrapers.  Since Vancouver is known for its beautiful mountains, building high rises is heavily restricted to certain areas so the focus would have to be on more multi unit low rises.  Perhaps also out in the valley they could open it up for more high rises (Richmond is off limits due to proximity to airport).  Also better rapid transit could help as then people could move further eastward out into the suburbs.  If you go out to Langley, prices while still very high, are not quite as ridiculous but due to long commutes no one wants to live that far but if you had a good rapid transit system like the Go Train in Ontario I think more people would move further afield than do now.

Interesting - thanks for that information. I imagine in another reality being able to expand more to the South would be a big help.

Do you think the housing situation will have a big impact on population growth in the future, or a lack of it?