My column in the current Business in Vancouver:
No quick or easy fix for affordable housing policy
When it comes to the cost of housing in Vancouver, there are so many perspectives, it’s easy to lose your own.
Some mayoral candidates have put “housing affordability” at the top of their to-do lists.
Gregor Robertson says he will foster an [...]
Does the meltdown in U.S. housing prices have anything to tell us yet about the impact of peak oil?
According to the current real-estate column in the Georgia Straight: yup. Carilto Pablo quotes Oregon economist Joe Cortwright:
Properties located in cities and neighbourhoods that require residents to go on lengthy commutes and don’t provide many transportation alternatives have [...]
I’ve been wondering for awhile whether, in the current housing meltdown in the U.S., location would make any difference on house prices and foreclosures. In particular, would the length of a commute now constitute a disadvantage great enough to overcome the “drive ’til you qualify” mortgage advantage of distant development?
Yup, apparently it would.
According to this piece on National [...]
We need the equivalent of this map for Vancouver:
You can find the full explanation here in the Slog Blog - but basically the blue areas are those where housing and transportation together cost more than 48 percent of median household income ($50,733 for a family of 2.5); taupe areas are places where they cost less.
The [...]
I was researching “Paris height limits” the other day. (I’m heading for the City of Light in February - actually, to “La Defense,” the corporate centre just outside the ring road. Like most places these days, it wants to be more ’sustainable.’ If you have observations or references about La Defense, send ‘em along.)
Anyway … [...]
Another piece on the explosive growth in the South Lake Union neighbourhood.
“What happened is pretty much what everybody expected, but it’s occurred in five years instead of 50,” said Mike Foley, who was a neighborhood activist and sometime Vulcan critic until the company bought his property for $21 million in 2003….
Even with all the condos [...]
If you’re a reader of James Kunstler’s books and blog, you’re familiar with his argument that “the suburbs have no future.” Indeed, he predicts that even if the current subprime mess is resolved, the suburbs aren’t coming back.
Kunstler has never been very good with the timing of his predictions, but his casandra-like pronouncements seem to [...]
The other day The Tyee asked me for an idea that I think has traction: something that will shape our city in the coming year.
Well, okay. How about some new housing that effectively addresses affordability and sustainability without changing the character of low-density neighbourhoods? - in other words, an EcoDensity wet dream.
How about if it were simply built, appropriately [...]
Crosscut - Seattle’s Tyee - has a columnist, Knute Berger, who every so often tosses off a little diatribe on Vancouver. Here’s an excerpt from his latest:
I am not a big fan of Vancouver-style high-rise density. The city is now the most expensive housing market in Canada, reports The New York Times, and the West [...]
It may not be news to us - but the New York Times just ran a story on how expensive condos are in Vancouver:
“When I try to explain to friends in the States how much it costs here, they don’t believe me,” Ms. Gill, 29, who is a real estate broker, said of the city’s [...]
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