As everyone in BC knows, there's a lack of housing in the lower mainland.. The cause of it, and the solution to it, are crystal clear to me, and yet it's left everyone, including the government, scratching their heads.
The cause: People want to live in the lower mainland. People from all over the place. Canadians know it's the nicest weather in Canada. People from other countries know it's beautiful, a good investment, and foreigner friendly. Refugees know it's a place that will take them. We invite people here. Through hosting things like to olympics, to our great tourism, people from around the globe know all about our great land, and want a piece of it.
Now what happens when people from all over the globe move to a desired area? The population increases in that area! What if lots of people move somewhere, but very few new dwellings are created? Holy shit, I just solved the cause of the problem! More people, but not more housing, equals not enough housing!
That was pretty easy to figure out, but people still seemed confused. We know the problem now, and the cause, but the thing most people are struggling with is the solution. I am so sick of the fucking politicians trying to get in the publics good books, by coming up with bullshit solutions, that they know will not work, and are just cash grabs. They implement foreign buyers tax, and speculation tax, vacancy tax, air B&B tax etc, as if taxing something will make it cheaper. Wake up people! It's a tax grab. Property taxes go through the roof, who gets the extra money? Government. Property transfer tax goes through the roof, who gets the money? Government. Now to curb pricing, they want foreign tax, speculation tax and all the other taxes, who gets the money? Yup, same government. The government is raking in literally billions of dollars on property, that they weren't three years ago, and they've done it by saying it's to help create "affordable housing". Now the general public thinks the government are heroes, because they are collecting billions extra from the public? When's that last time the government raised taxes, and people were happy? And how's that afforable housing coming?
Not sure if anyone is familiar with the concept of supply and demand. The government seems oblivious to it. There has been tens of thousand of people moving to the lower mainland, and yet minimal new housing. This has created a shortage, as discussed above. Just like anything else, when there is a shortage, prices go up. Things like diamonds are closely regulated on how many can be released to the public at a time. If they release too many, prices of diamonds drop. It's not that diamonds are worth what they fetch, it's just that there is limited quantity, which drives up the price, in the same way that a condo is worth million dollars in Vancouver. It doesn't cost a million to build it, but there are more buyers than there are sellers, so it will go to the person that is willing to pay the most. The same goes for rental units. The people that can't afford $3000 a month for a 2 bedroom condo, are pushed aside for people that can. It's not the landlords fault, or the people selling the houses. It's supply and demand.
Now, despite what the government will tell you, taxing property will not solve this problem. How can it? There are two solutions. One: less people, IE reduce demand. Not the easiest option when people want to live in BC. That leaves the only viable option, two: make more housing, IE more supply. Stop standing in the developers way. Stop making them jump through all the bullshit hoops and red tape, with the zoning applications, and bylaws, and green space set backs, and permits. I'm not saying let it be a free for all, but I personally know two developers, that walked away from multi-unit residential builds. After years of countless dollars on legal fees and applications, and bullshit, just to have it not be approved for a nonsense reason. I know of one developer that took the city to court, and successfully sued the city for $800,000 for intensionally delaying his applications to build an apartment building. How do you make more housing, when you reject and deny new housing? Don't get me wrong, I like green space, and hate over populated places, but lower mainlanders seem to be fine with it. I'd rather see less people but that's not going to happen, so you're going to need more housing, not more taxes.
Also, for all the people whining about affordable housing, you know you don't need to live in the lower mainland right? Don't go into a Ferrari dealership and cry that the cars cost too much. Yes, we'd all like a $300,000 car, doesn't mean we get one.
