“Homelessness & Affordability Crisis”

Dissecting what is behind the GTA’s persistently high house prices – and what governments should do about it

As we approach the second half of 2024, the housing landscape and new home prices in the Greater Toronto Area (and Canada broadly) continue to be surprisingly resilient in the face of economic headwinds. Despite historical trends suggesting a downturn in housing prices following periods of high inflation and interest rates, recent prices have moderated somewhat but have largely defied the expected convention. Here are some of the factors behind it.

Explains the hidden back end development costs well.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Homelessness & Affordability Crisis"

Skyrocketing rent: Some Canadians saying goodbye to half their paycheque

A significant number of Canadian renters are spending more than half their paycheque putting a roof over their head, according to a new Royal LePage report.

In Vancouver, 27 per cent of renters are spending more than half their net income on paying the rent. In Toronto, 19 per cent are forking over more than half of their paycheque and one in 10 Montrealers are in the same position. The national average is 16 per cent.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Homelessness & Affordability Crisis", Canada, Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government

Trudeau’s Canada: Global Study Deems Vancouver & Toronto Housing “Impossibly Unaffordable.”

Global study ranks two Canadian cities high on list of most expensive places to buy a home

As Canadians continue to struggle with the extremely high cost of buying a home in some of the country’s major urban centres, a new global report is underscoring just how expensive some of those markets are.

A study by Demographia, which examines international housing affordability, has deemed Vancouver and Toronto as “impossibly unaffordable.”

David MacDonald, a senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, says the findings of the study aren’t surprising.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Homelessness & Affordability Crisis", "Societally Destructive Immigration Policy", Canada, Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government

The rise of California’s vanlords: A new class of landlord is exploiting the homeless

For outsiders experiencing it on YouTube, homelessness in San Francisco has a sort of up-close profile — overdoses and open drug deals, vacant and filthy faces, bodies sprawled on dirty concrete or, sometimes, just standing, bent incredibly in half, forehead between knees, in the telltale posture of someone who shot up fentanyl and forgot to sit.

Where I live, across San Francisco Bay in Oakland, the homelessness has also become a favourite subject for YouTube video sleuths. But instead of capturing it at ground level, from the juddering view of a camera held by a pedestrian, or through the window of a car moving along a curb in voyeuristic slowness, these videographers often do their thing while moving at the speed of traffic, panning hungrily along a blighted street, or they send up a drone to gather a vast scene in an aerial sweep. San Francisco homelessness is defined by depressing human detail. Oakland homelessness is captured in aggregate terms, by visual reference to its physical scale.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Homelessness & Affordability Crisis"

Trudeau government swamps nation with so many alleged refugees that Canada moves into top 5 countries accepting claims

Despite its geographic isolation from the rest of the world save for the United States, Canada was the fifth largest recipient country of asylum seekers last year.

According to the latest global trends report released Thursday by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (also known as the United Nations Refugee Agency), Canada received 146,800 new claims in 2023, up from 94,000 the year before. Only four countries were ahead: the U.S. (1.2 million), Germany (329,100), Egypt (183,100) and Spain (163,200).

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Homelessness & Affordability Crisis", "Mass Immigration - Follow the money", Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government

New housing starts mean $100,000 per home needed to fund infrastructure: report

As Canada aims to build homes faster, both the public and private sectors will need to boost spending on municipal infrastructure, a new report from the Canadian Urban Institute says.

The report, funded by the Canada Infrastructure Bank, estimated the average cost of infrastructure needed to support housing likely exceeds $100,000 for each newly built home. That includes funding for resources such as public transit, roads, water lines, schools, fire halls or recreational facilities

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Homelessness & Affordability Crisis", Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government

Most Canadians Say Home Ownership Unattainable Despite Rate Cut: Poll

Despite the Bank of Canada’s decision to drop interest rates, it’s not enough for most Canadians to get into the housing market, according to a recent poll.

On June 4 the Bank of Canada dropped its key interest rate by 0.25 percent from five percent to 4.75 percent. It was the first cut in four years.

However, in a June 11 survey by polling firm Ipsos, eight in 10 (82 percent) of respondents said that even if interest rates drop further, homeownership will still be unattainable for them. Sixty-two percent said they’ve given up on ever owning a home.

Imagine if someone dropped a Nuke on Ottawa! Would I ever be not sad!

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Homelessness & Affordability Crisis", "Mass Immigration - Follow the money", "Societally Destructive Immigration Policy", Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government

Douglas Todd: Disease spreads by overcrowding, made worse by housing unaffordability

As if there are not enough problems with the exorbitant cost of housing, now we must face up to how it contributes to poor health.

Overcrowding within houses and apartments helps spread disease, according to studies in the U.S., Britain and Australia.

Overcrowding, which is calculated on the number of people living together per square foot, could be at its worst in almost a century in English-speaking countries.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Homelessness & Affordability Crisis", "Mass Immigration - Follow the money", "Societally Destructive Immigration Policy", Canada, Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government

Small ownership landlords in Ontario call for rental housing market reform

A group of housing providers in the province are calling out the Ford government, saying reform is needed to help small-ownership landlords and good tenants.

Small Ownership Landlords of Ontario (SOLO) held a rally outside Queen’s Park on Saturday, calling on the province to provide better ways to protect small ownership landlords from tenants who refuse to pay.

“My tenant stopped paying rent to the tune of $26,000, and then he eventually burned my house down,” said Kevin Costain, SOLO board member.

The situation is so bad for renters that when they do fall into arrears it’s easy to just say F*ck it and screw the system.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Homelessness & Affordability Crisis"

Canada Begins Real Estate Developer Bail Out With 55 Year Loans

Canada’s record population growth combined with slowing new home construction might seem paradoxical at first. The Government of Canada (GoC) claims it’s because housing is “illegal” but a confidential memo sent to lenders indicates it’s an issue of leverage. The CMHC quietly notified lenders they’ll be extending the maximum amortization, or length of repayment. The developer bailout will help borrowers repay their loan over two generations, with projects at risk of default now able to extend their repayment term up to 55 years.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Homelessness & Affordability Crisis", Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government

Which way, Canada? Make housing cheaper or protect homeowners’ investments?

Federal housing policy – the number one government priority in Budget 2024 – is unequivocal in its approach: supply, supply, supply. And rightly so.

But the ultimate goal is not clear. In a recent interview with The Globe and Mail’s City Space podcast, Prime Minster Justin Trudeau stated that “in the coming years … [young generations] will be able to see the path towards owning a home.”

The two can’t be reconciled. Trudeau managed to screw everyone with his mass immigration scam.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Homelessness & Affordability Crisis", Canada, Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government

This social media prognosticator channels the angst of a housing-challenged generation

Millennial Moron is a self-appointed housing prognosticator who, with his dry wit and dour analysis of Canadian indebtedness, is more than a comedic content creator. He’s a voice of his generation.

He first rose to social media prominence a year ago for videos showing the absurdity of modest Canadian properties selling for around the same price as European castles or private Caribbean islands. He’s graduated to explaining Bank of Canada moves, and his worries about the country entering a period of Japanese-style stagflation.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Homelessness & Affordability Crisis"

What Canada can learn from Japan in solving its housing and productivity crises

Faced with crises in housing, health care and a stagnant economy, Canadians may feel like their challenges are insurmountable. But solutions may not be that hard. To see how we might do things differently, we could look to Japan’s cities for ideas.

Take the two capitals, for starters. Ottawa has about a million residents, Tokyo some 14 times that. Yet Tokyo occupies less space. You would think that with that kind of density Tokyo, which after all is one of the world’s great metropoles and a global corporate and financial hub, would be an expensive place to live. Yet average house prices are lower there than in Ottawa.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Homelessness & Affordability Crisis", Canada, Japan

‘Not a Chance’: Construction Experts Say Government’s Bid to Build Nearly 3.9M Homes by 2031 Unrealistic

The federal government’s promise to build nearly 3.9 million new homes by 2031 is unrealistic and unachievable, construction experts told MPs.

“Right now, we’re staring into a pit,” Residential Construction Council of Ontario president Richard Lyall told the House of Commons human resources committee this week, which was first covered by Blacklock’s Reporter.

“When cranes come down, they’re not going back up. We’re headed down in a big way and our sub-trade pipelines are dry. It’s drying up.”

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Homelessness & Affordability Crisis", Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government

Trudeau Liberals’ immigration policies purposefully altering Canada

Canada’s Immigration Minister, Marc Miller, has commanded center stage in Ottawa over the past few weeks making a rash of new policy announcements. The changes being made to Canada’s immigration system will make it easier for newcomers to come into the country – seemingly without regard for either the costs to taxpayers or the strain placed on Canadians’ social contract.

Last Thursday, the government tabled legislation that extends birthright citizenship, allowing Canadians who live abroad to pass down “Canadian citizenship” to their children who may have been born outside the country and live abroad. This allows for a person who never has set foot in Canada to hold Canadian citizenship based on one of their parents’ citizenship.

Does anyone know the context for this video?

Was there a festival or holy day or something being celebrated?

Or is Toronto just Fucked?

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Homelessness & Affordability Crisis", "Mass Immigration - Follow the money", "Societally Destructive Immigration Policy", Canada, Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government, The Great Replacement