Who Defines “Affordable?”

Vancouver mayor offers $250M of city land for social housing

Gregor Robertson is asking the federal government give $500M in return for affordable housing projects

CBC News Posted: Feb 02, 2016 8:11 AM PT Last Updated: Feb 02, 2016 9:29 AM PT

 

 

This  seems to be a good offer…and the Feds, if Trudeau is to be believed, should jump at the chance to walk the walk and contribute where it is most needed…that would be Vancouver.
I left years ago because I could see that the City would be unaffordable once I retired…it has become worse than even I expected…why should any more retirees be driven from their home because of the insane real estate exploitation by elites..?
Our ConLite Premier has refused to do anything about it, so why not try this? I don’t agree with many things that have been done in the past under Robertson’s leadership, but this is a great idea that needs to be seriously considered.. we stand to lose everything about Vancouver that once made it a great place to live.

It’s far too late to do anything about those of us who  are life long renters – even here on Vancouver Island, rent is becoming unaffordable, when it can be found at all…and in Victoria  there are already bidding wars happening for real estate..unheard of in the past, all too familiar in  Vancouver..

Whenever possible, foreign investment in real estate should come with added costs and penalties for sitting empty..such  actions  should be considered   at the very least  unscrupulous, since there are so many in need..And ‘reno-victions’ should be illegal…

The biggest problem I see for this sort of  offer is  who decides on the definition of the  term  ‘affordable housing’…affordable to who, and under what circumstances?  Whenever I see a developer touting  their version of the latest so-called ‘affordable’ housing, it is a  cheaply built sardine tin that is decidedly not affordable as I  understand the term..

My imagination  gets a bit out there, and worst-case scenario, the seniors of this culture will be eliminated as surplus to need, and,unless they are wealthy, will be shipped to  someplace  where they are not heard or seen…the poor?  Well,  housed in tiny stacked  tenements and forced into  whatever  cheap labour jobs are going,  servicing  the elites, but pushed out  of site/sight after  hours so no one has to  be aware of them..dystopian, maybe, but  what else  is  feasible, the way things are going?