Tipping Point and Marc Lee

Clark Pay: Clark Pay from Donors Too Tied to Real Estate Moguls: Eby Conflict may explain Premier inaction on affordability, says NDP MLA. Nine Ways to Turn Vancouver Housing Crisis from 'Breaking Point' to Tipping Point In wake of recent headlines, we offer these ready-made ideas, according to Tyee. Read more: Housing image: Sign Up for the Tyee Newsletter The housing market in British Columbia is broken and making it more affordable will require taking several approaches at the same time, according to a new report from the BC Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. "We're not building the homes that people here need," Marc Lee, a senior economist with the CCPA, said in a phone interview. "We're building the most profitable." Lee is the author of Getting Serious About Affordable Housing: Towards a Plan for Metro Vancouver, a report released today that looks at the roots of the affordability crisis and calls for various actions to address the problem. Province to Collect Foreign Buyer Data, Reluctant to Impose Any TaxNDP says latest measures do nothing to address BC affordability crisis. His proposed solutions include building between 5,000 and 10,000 units of affordable housing every year and funding them through increased taxes that cool some of the speculation in the real estate market. "Most of the recent headlines focus on the spectacular increases in real estate prices," he wrote. "But there is also a serious crisis in the rental housing market, and completely inadequate housing for the most needy." A crisis with various roots The housing crisis is driven by various factors, Lee wrote. So does money from outside Vancouver and Canada, which Lee says has "led to ripple effects further down the property ladder and in other parts of the region." The trend in Vancouver is part of a wider context where the super rich are parking their money in a few desirable cities around the world, Lee wrote. "A fundamental problem is that housing is being treated primarily as an investment rather than as a place to live." One result is a growing gap between the rich and the poor, where the top 20 per cent of households hold about 68 per cent of the net worth of principal residences, he said. Population growth, low interest rates and transfers of wealth between generations all play a role. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.