When you crane your neck to look up at shiny new highrise towers across the North Shore, you’re staring at monuments to our federal government’s inaction.
Ottawa effectively washed its hands of low-income housing decades ago, and continued that trend through successive Conservative and Liberal governments.
The effects of that decision are apparent in every soaring house assessment and every attempt by a municipal government to squeeze affordable suites from luxury developers.
We applaud the federal government for making housing a major priority in 2018. We just wish someone would tell the Liberals that it remains 2017.
The new budget sets aside $707 million for tackling homelessness but $0 in 2017.
The budget also earmarks $151 million to establish a “housing statistics framework.” But we’ve got some statistics they can have for free. For example: 0.1 per cent is the vacancy rate in the District of North Vancouver. In West Vancouver, which has twice as many vacancies, the average rent is approximately $1,746.
That combination of few options and high prices chases a generation across our bridges every evening and excludes many young teachers, police officers and young people in general from our communities.
Benefits that flow to the older generation weren’t put on the waiting list, including boosting funding for Old Age Security to more than $60 billion.
Old Age Security is a vital program – we’re just not certain it’s five times more vital than the national housing strategy.
We thank the Liberals for overcoming government inertia and bringing housing back to the table. We just wish they weren’t planning to deal with today’s crisis tomorrow.
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