Some of us must have been at the wrong Blake Richards meeting since several participants asked that rhetoric be changed from “middle class” to “middle class and the poor.”
Issue of affordable housing continues to loom large. The smaller the space, the more is charged for rent resulting in singles and poor families paying more for their housing. Bafflegab continues regarding foreign home ownership, $80 billion in Vancouver and Toronto, but Canadians can’t look in their own backyard. Between 2009 and 2014 Canadians, mainly snowbirds, purchased $80.5 billion worth of housing in USA resulting in their Canadian homes sitting empty for six months of the year and leaving the poor to pay more to support the taxes for goods and services and GDP of Canada.
Housing is the most expensive lifetime expense, not children. At $1,000 per month rent and 60 to 70 years lifespan, rent costs will equal between $750,000 and $1 million with nothing to show for it. Home purchases usually occur over 25 to 30 years with resulting accumulated wealth. Child expenses only cover 20 to 25 years.
If the greed of policy makers, planners, builders, society, etc. can’t control “what the market can bear,” then it’s time for a housing allowance as proposed by the Liberals. This needs to be a permanent policy. Wouldn’t it be nice if there were an agreement by all political parties for this housing crisis solution?
Lin Gackle
