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Why is Vancouver eating its young? Nothing cool about that

DAVID BEERS

From Monday's Globe and Mail

Latest comment posted at 1:39 PM EDT 22/10/07

Nothing cool about that ...Read the full article

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  1. Norman Chrisitan Hoffmann from Vancouver, Canada writes: I agree with all your statements above. I feel however it is necessary to point out the obvious surrounding Vancouvers housing prices for the young. The drug addicted and mentally ill have swallowed them all up. Whenever I look for an apartment or resonably priced accomodation I find them in the worst districts or areas of town. Unfortunately for me I haven't the time to become a welfare trap citizen nevertheless a drug addict and I believe that is all that will happen to me if I frequent those areas given the company I will be forced to keep in those quarters. I think it is time to build a prison system which truly reflects the needs of this community. Last I checked being stoned or drunk in public was a crime and all those people seem to fit the bill. I need support to move forward in life not a handmedown ruined, neglected, derelict neighborhood to live in. And who knows, maybe I'll save the world from Global Warming one day. But, certainly not in this neighborhood or town. I've spoken to Raymond Louie of Vision Vancouver and we both agree the number of holding cells in the downtown Vancouver precinct are not enough in number to actually penalize the core residents of the downtown eastside for breaking the law. And this actually extends to the prison justice system which has for quite some time now been demanding a revamp of it's facilities that judges may deliver more harsh and meaningful sentences for and to habitual drug related offences and offenders. And, I mean to raise the political specter of inequality and racial prejudice against the government again here in this last statement/question I think needs legitimate challenging. Why is it that the brunt of this equation has for so long been borne by the Chinese community? Why is it that the poorest, meanest streets from here to Washington DC are smack dab in the middle of the Chinese community and has been so since their racially tainted immigration to Canada ? I think I know the answer.
  2. B.C. Expat from Ottawa, NCR, Canada writes: I don't know why the author is trying to make the housing market sound like a boomer conspiracy rather than point to the obvious factor: supply and demand. Vancouver is geographically constrained (low supply), but many people want to live there (high demand). You can't fault developers for investing in profitable projects and building condos and what not.

    The housing market in Montreal is famously cheap because demand is perpetually limited (most work-age anglo Canadians can't easily work in Quebec, so not many migrate there), and the rental market gets killed every so often when the PQ gets elected. (Not to mention an abundance of supply in a city with almost exclusively European style apartment living in the city center). I lived there right after the 1995 referendum, and economic depression was the price to pay for cheap housing. Something I'd never wish upon Vancouver.
  3. J Brocha from toronto, Canada writes: I also agree with many of the claims made by this article. As a 24 year old renting in Toronto I am constantly flabbergasted by the cost of condos and homes. Short of moving to the treeless 'burbs I don't know how I'll ever be able to enjoy my city!
  4. mike bortolotto from Vancouver, Canada writes: B.S.

    If you want to live in downtown Vancouver, you'll pay the price. If you live in the 'burbs and are willing to take transit you can find affordable rent.
  5. C S from Vancouver, Canada writes: As a 22 year old undergraduate in Vancouver, I can certainly relate to Mr. Beers' article. At present, I pay $850/month in rent for a basement suite in a quiet, reasonably safe neighbourhood. I work as many hours as I can (with enough time left over to study and get some sleep), at the rate of $12/hour...giving me a budget of about $100-$200 per month (after rent) to spend on food, my phone bill and books. AND I AM A SCHOLARSHIP STUDENT!!!

    I have no idea how non-scholarship students, especially international students, can afford higher education as well as the costs of living here. Furthermore, after the stress and pressure of ensuring one's essential needs are met, how do they/I have the time or concentration for all of their/my university studies??

    I think it is hardly fair to expect Gen-Xers or Millenials to save the planet with chronic poverty and an increasingly dispairing environmental picture looming over us. I'm beginning to think we're the end of the line...I'm certainly not going to be having children.
  6. Cdn Expat from Washington, D.C., United States writes: I grew up in Vancouver, back when housing was relatively cheap. But there was a reason for that: the economy sucked. Demand for housing was low, wages were low, and unemployment was high. In those days, when you found a job, you never quit it without having found another one first. Nowadays, with commodity prices as high as they are, there is lots of demand for housing and, for the time being at least, short supply. Moreoever, the aging population means that more and more people come to Vancouver to retire having earned their fortunes elsewhere, driving up prices. So it's only going to get tougher for those starting out. The amenities that the city offers makes it an attractive place to live, but not an attractive place to do business. That is going to mean that people will have to live in smaller and smaller abodes to be able to afford to live there, just like in Manhatten. Get used to it.
  7. Peter Lucas from Langley, Canada writes: Supply and demand. Period. No aging boomer conspiracy. Supply is limited by the US border to the South, Pacific Ocean to the West, mountains to the North, and Surrey to the East.
  8. C K from Vancouver, Canada writes: There are two themes in this article/editorial: 1) the dynamics of the Vancouver housing market, and 2) the broader issue of intergenerational transfers of wealth & equity. These themes need not be logically or empirically connected; indeed, I'm not sure they are.

    My sense on the first of these themes is that the Vancouver housing market largely reflects supply & demand (though supply and demand can be out of equilibrium in the short-run because of speculative bubbles, interest rates which are too low, etc.).

    On the broader question of intergenerational equity, however, I think that Canadian baby-boomers have pulled up the ladder after themselves. This is a generation that a) extended the welfare state in Canada in the 1970s & early 1980s to unsustainable levels (i.e., they borrowed from future generations of tax-payers to give themselves cheap university tuition, plentiful government jobs, and defined benefit pensions), and then b) transfered the costs of paying those debts to succeeding generations. Succeeding generations have had to cope with and pay for a very necessary (and in my view very desirable) pruning of the Canadian welfare state: e.g., university tuition has increased drastically in real terms, the public health care system is worse in many ways, unemployment benefits are less generous and more restricted nowadays, pensions are almost all defined contribution plans, and real incomes (especially disposable incomes) have declined. The well-documented declines in Canadian real incomes and productivity, moreover, speak to the fact that the Canadian baby-boomer generation did not create their wealth or reinvest much of it in human capital or infrastructure; they merely used the political process to expropriate wealth from future tax payers.
  9. Andrea C from Vancouver, Canada writes: "If you live in the 'burbs and are willing to take transit you can find affordable rent."

    Uh, 10 years ago, I was paying $775 a month for a 1BR near Metrotown.

    Sure, you can still get a damp, dark 1BR basement suite in Surrey for $700. But then you're paying $130 a month for a transit pass, spending 45-60 minutes each way on a bus, walking to your suite in the rain, and wondering if your ground level suite will be broken into. For one person, that's a total of $830 a month. For 2, it's $960. You're better to rent an old 1BR in the West End for $800 and to spend your newfound time cooking cheap, healthy meals.
  10. Peter Lucas from Langley, Canada writes: C K, Good post - there are indeed two themes here.
  11. atom t from not Vancouver, Canada writes: A couple insightful folks above insist that the outrageous cost of a home in Vancouver is due simply to
    that city's "oh-so-special" geography. I guess that is more plausible than those who want to credit BC climate, since
    God knows why anyone would want to endure 6 soggy months of mildew and rain, when there are
    places like San Franscisco or Miami. If you believe that that the outrageous cost of Vancouver housing is
    simply based on a shortage of buildable land, then perhaps you ought to check out New Orleans (cutoff by swamp & lake),
    Montreal (an island), and hey, why not Kabul (surrounded by Taliban) or Karachi (water & mountain). With
    the massive population of refugees combined with the shortage of buildable land, the demand has got to be high. Go fer it.

    But really, Newsflash: The housing boom is really NOT about Vancouver. As far back as June 2005,
    the Economist said that we were in the midst of the biggest global housing booms in history. If Vancouver was so special, then why have major cities the world over - California, Florida, London, Singapore, Shanghai and even South African townships - have also seen record increases in housing prices. You dont have to look to far beyond the Vancouver Sun (now there's an ironic name for the local rag) to figure out that the housing boom is not just confined to condos in Lotusland.

    Moreover, if one is looking for a connection between Boomers and housing prices, just try a quick Google. You'll see that there is not shortage of plausible links, but the main one seems to be that the current bulge of well-fed pre-retirement Boomers turned in mass to real estate speculation as a source of retirement savings after being burned by the dot.com bubble.
    Of course, the Boomers who read this paper will pooh-pooh that, but your posts are not so hard to recognize...
  12. B.C. Expat from Canada writes: Atom, your bitter post can't change the fact that land is extremely limited in Vancouver, and that prices aren't nearly as high in most other parts of the country. Here in Ottawa it's not even comparable.
  13. David Briggs from United States writes: BC Expat, the boom land prices in Vancouver are part & parcel of a larger global housing boom that has little to do with the scarcity of land in Vancouver. The boom happened across continents, across geography, across climates, in places like London, San Diego and Johannesburg that are not like Vancouver whatsoever.

    Moreover, global housing prices are deflating (or collapsing depending on your penchant for drama), and there is no evidence that land in Vancover, or any of its market analogues is becoming any more plentiful. I know it's hard to believe, but it's the city state of Vantopia does not operate outside the global economy.

    PS. Are you a boomer? I hear that myopia gets worse as you age.
  14. DJ G from Canada writes: When the average single home in Greater Vancouver is $705,000, it's certainly not 20 or even 30 year olds driving demand. If you look at who's buying the houses, it's the generation that is graying at the temples and driving the SUVs. Gee, thanks Boomers!
  15. Brad Reddekopp from Hazelton, British Columbia, Canada writes: [shrug] It's no big deal. If you can't afford to live in Vancouver, then don't live in Vancouver. It's not as if there's some kind of right to be able to afford to live where ever you like.
  16. keith c from london, United Kingdom writes: Cheer up guys, I hear a big place on top of a high-rise in surrey just became available.
  17. Luke R from Toronto, Canada writes: what we should do is introduce a "boomer tax". all the gov't services that were available in the 70s/80s (or the level of service that was availble then) that were finanaced with public debt should be paid for by this tax by the generations that actually got to use those services. why should the generations that never got to benefit from that now pay for it by the public debt that is being dumped on us by the boomers.
  18. Steve baker from Ridgeway, Canada writes: To understand Vancouver today you have to examine Hong Kong 20 years ago. The norm was to spend 50% of income on housing.

    Hong Kong investors who I affectionaly call Honkies faced with a mainland takeover zeroed in on Canada, particularly Vancouver, which was just like home but with better enviroment.

    They bought heavy and lost big, but never sold. Now those big investors control the market in an ENRON way.

    I am not suggesting they have broken any laws. If I had the resources as a capitalist I would pursue the same course.

    Inevitably Vancouver will become a great hub of unbrilded capitalism.
    Whats not to like?
  19. Travis Sellar from Canada writes:
    I think the poor should eat The Boomers as they've come to think, and act, only for themselves and in the most dangerous of ways. Bankrupting future resources for immediate self-gratification. A far cry from the generation that was going to change the world. Unless, of course, they meant for the worse. In which case they succeeded. Applause to you Boomers. Now let the hue and cry begin of how you're being miscast.
  20. My eyes are open, Are yours? from Canada writes: Uh, why can't anyone share an apartment? It'll bring your rent down to under $500. And yes, a 1-bedroom apartment can be shared, someone will have to sleep on a pullout couch. Saves money on birth control, also.

    That's how gen-X did it, anyway.

    No generation graduated from university (or high school) and immediately bought a 3-bedroom house. Heck, in the 1950s the standard house was 750 square feet. Somehow families of 7 lived there.
  21. Amil Niazi from Toronto, Canada writes: As someone who has spent several years advocating and praying for constructive change in Vancouver and finally out of sheer poverty and desperation giving up and moving to Toronto, I agree with David Beers’ points - though the housing boom/shortage is only one of a handful of problems the city faces. Vancouver is a city of intense concentration; in housing, in media, and in government. The diversity of voices is large but their platforms are few. Vancouver&8217;s youth are not only afflicted by high rents but by a lack of resources, an adequate job market (outside labour and trade,) political outlets and growing apathy. We are youth who love our city, but are consistently punished for that love. Our music venues are closing, our city council refuses to support our young entrepreneurs, our media is all but closed off to us and rather than attend to the needs of its citizens, our government continues to play snake charmer to pseudo-world class hype. Before Vancouver can be an international city, it needs to be a functioning regional city. And when that happens, I can&8217;t wait to move back.
  22. Mike Quinlan from Gatineau QC, Canada writes: Just for fun, could someone tell me what the average annual property taxes are on your avg 700K home? In our neck of the woods its many of our mothers who are living in poverty and having to sell homes for which they can no longer afford the upkeep and tax load while trying to subsist on minimal pension payments. The sad thing is that what bit of winfall they get upon selling their homes is taken right back by the new sky high rents they must pay for retirement living. Meanwhile many young people at University make exactly the same wage or even less than I got twenty years ago. After graduation if they want a house it takes two salaries and very creative mortage products that will see them pay outrageous sums of interest. What do they get in the wonderful new housing market at the low end? Rented furnaces, hot water tanks, super cheap appliances, low grade construction, minimal finishing, windows that will need changing in 5 years, and lets not forget yards with no sod and vinyl siding-- but hey its new and they dont have the experience to know better anyway so why shouldnt developers take advantage of them? I have zero answers to the unintended effects of market dynamics, but I am getting to think that generational thinking is a problem. Being human means going through many stages in life. Its a continuum that will all see us die, hopefully with some dignity. Youth should respect age, but age needs to nurture and encourage youth as well. True communities must include and support people at all stages of life rather than set up conditions that make for winners and losers for no better reason than year of birth. Individual boomers who make a virtue out of their luck in the draw while being oblivious to the larger social context of their lives do us all a great disservice. They are not despite all their pretentions leaving the world a better place and creating the kind of world their parents dreamed for them.
  23. Michael G from Calgay, Canada writes: Wow, all this time I thought EVERY boomer was selfish and blind to all the hardship they have caused their very own children. It took me 8 years to convince my own baby boomer parents that all was not well in their modern economy, the one they relish so much. Way too late to help those champions of your own town, this is the reality. Boomers have carved up the country and now in such "property games" have carved up their own offspring... What's for lunch you ask? Well it is us!
  24. go west from Canada writes: Boo hoo, you can't buy a house in the most expensive city in the country at 23.
  25. poop lascoop from Albania writes: http://www.fradical.com/RapcontributestoTorontoviolence.htm
  26. Michael G from Calgay, Canada writes: go west from Canada....................... thank you Mr. "what was your name" but you have very simply and effectively proven the point of every young person on this blog. That the old just don't care and are incapable of using their minds and their ears. And yes we have heard your lad-e-dah so many times before, but thanks for the advise.
  27. Nathanael Tookan from Vancouver, writes: Some says ... "Oh, simply Supply and Demand" ... don't be so naive! Demand and Supply can be significantly mitigated through government regulation or cultural values. "Business types" often forget that when business forces left to its own devices creates a world that is very very nasty. Simply look at the early days pre-WWI/WWII.

    Vancouver as beautiful as it is ... can do significantly more to ensure that the next generation has the opportunities. Simply, ensure mandatory retirement at what it is now, 65. Lower tuition rates through more generous grants so that there is a well trained young generation so that they are ready to take over.

    Essentially, take some of the taxes that the "overly generous boomers" (to themselves...what with their generous pay packages/pensions/etc.) are paying and ensure that the next generation is taken care of.
  28. Clayton Burns from Vancouver, Canada writes: "With the exception of 16 months of new clinical rotations, the rest of my five-year residency at the University of British Columbia was completely redundant to my U.S. training." Dr. Gwen Stephens, medical microbiologist, Doha, Qatar. Letter to the National Post today re: "Putting Up Hurdles For Canadian Doctors Coming Home," Craig Offman, Oct. 18. "So why does the B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons in effect suspend licences of doctors working abroad, requiring us to re-establish the right to work in Canada?" Now, logically, you would imagine that UBC would respond to Dr. Stephens, proving that she is wrong, or offer to show leadership in changing the system. But if UBC's response to the March 27 letter to The Ubyssey, "Faculty of Education in deplorable state," is any indication, UBC will pay no attention, but just continue to recycle obsolescence, wasting valuable time and resources. So perhaps these impenetrable practices of institutions in Vancouver have nothing to do with reality. Perhaps The Globe and Mail editors are right to delete references to these realities. Perhaps the paper should not establish a Higher Education section to cover universities in much greater detail. But it is hard to follow the logic. When students at UBC are told to buy textbooks not being used in courses, that adds materially to costs. I cannot understand why The Globe and Mail would want to hide these facts. Institutions in Vancouver do not engage in the analytical work that would allow understanding of past errors such as the presentation of evidence in Air-India. Nor do they anticipate the future. They like to eat up research funds and recycle redundancy. How much evidence would be needed to grasp that that practice is systemic in Vancouver? But of course there is NO effect on the quality of life in that city. Redundancy Utopia. With its The Metropolis Project to make sure that the future goes underanalysed. What has Metropolis done about English teaching for immigrants?
  29. Nathanael Tookan from Vancouver, writes: Boomers ... first selfish generation who don't care for their own en masse!
  30. Steve Milos from North Vancouver, Canada writes: For Mike Quinlan from Gatineau, re: Property taxes on a 700k home, depending on the municipality, it's roughly in the $4000-5000 range, per year. For a $500k apartment, it's about $2000-2500 annually.
  31. Norman Chrisitan Hoffmann from Vancouver, Canada writes: Despite the housing booms and crunches, despite it all, there is still an enormous amount of valuable and affordable real estate and housing in Vancouver.

    The only problem is it is overrun by drug addicts.

    So, the only answer to the question posed by the author is; There is no housing crisis here.

    What we have is a shortage of prison facilities.

    Norman Christian Hoffmann
    Hells Angels MC
  32. Leaving Sooon from Canada writes: This isn't limited to Vancouver - it's all of British Columbia - anything in southern BC is now insanely expensive, with little increase in wages.

    BC is driving out all of its young people and families. It is becoming one huge retirement community.
  33. Travis Sellar from Canada writes:
    Boomers - and to borrow a line from the Forgotten Rebels - they're the Me Generation, they're the assholes of the 80s. They're the Me Generation. They'll be lonely old men and ladies.

    Ah. We can only wish.
  34. Doug from BC from Canada writes: Michael G from Calgay, Canada. I am a "Boomer" and I can assure you that folks in my generation were not given "McMansions" at the age of 23 as you expect. Most of us rented until we were in our late 20's or thirties and then bought 800-900 sq. ft. houses and raised our kids there. Later on we saved and were able to afford larger homes. When we rented we were expected to pay our rent and take care of the property and did not have the right to destroy the place and still remain in the abode with the help of the rental tenancy boards. That is why a lot of landlords are now selling their rental units because they are tired of dealing with deadbeat renters and can now get a decent sale price for their rental unit. Face it Kid, you may have to work for what you expect.
  35. Doug from BC from Canada writes: Travis Sellar from Canada writes:
    Boomers - and to borrow a line from the Forgotten Rebels - they're the Me Generation, they're the assholes of the 80s. They're the Me Generation. They'll be lonely old men and ladies.

    Yeah, and you're sitting on your butt waiting to inherit what the boomers have worked for.
  36. E. Biggs from Canada writes: There are a number of remedies for this but the prime one is quite simple.

    We need to elect an NDP Provincial Government.

    Rationale is that they will spend on social housing, tax the hell out of business and home owners and place restrictions on resource companies. This they have done in the past here.

    As some of you will remember, these policies killed the economy, made business move elsewhere leaving lots of vacancies. With lots of vacancies the rents and prices come down and all you kids once again can afford housing except for the fact that you cannot find jobs.

    Move out of Van. get a house you can afford get a car, pollute the environment and join the rest of us.
  37. Michael G from Calgay, Canada writes: Doug from BC from Canada.......... Sooooo what does that have to do with me... I unlike you was not talking aboutmyself myself myself. I am NOT poor DUG but I am Responsible for my brothers. Take a pill.
  38. Michael G from Calgay, Canada writes: Oh and Doug.... don't ever try and explain to a farm 'kid' what is hard work. It is I that explains this to you.
  39. Rob Meyer from New England, United States writes: Of course it's the Boomers. They actually benefited from (almost) free education, a good economy and have entrenched themselves in power in gov't and the workplace and show no intention of making any room for the young. I did all the right things- getting a professional education, working through school , loans and all and once I and most of the class finished we were stuck at Kinko's, Beadworks etc. No room in our field here. I'm in the states -get multiple job offers, bonuses, benefits-we are welcome and apprieciated here for our skills and hard work. Ther are many CDN's down here-probably also a Boomer plan to eliminate a threat to their comfort.
  40. Doug from BC from Canada writes: Michael G from Calgay. So, buy a few houses and rent them out. I will agree that there is a huge problem in housing but blaming one age group of the population is not going to help. Maybe envirofacism ala Al Gore will help. You know what I mean, kill a lot of people to get the population down. It may even have to include you as you may be lucky enough to get older some day. Don't worry about it, Mother Nature usually corrects imbalances. With peak oil hitting I'll make you a bet that you won't recognise our society in 20 years. Good for some, bad for others. As for me, I will probably live long enough to be a burden to my children. Don't think I'll take a "pill", might get stoned though.
  41. Doug from BC from Canada writes: Michael G

    Glad to hear that you're a "Farm Kid", you may survive. Sorry to disapoint you but I was a Alta. farm kid myself.
  42. Tom W from Taiwan writes: @Steve baker: re: comparison with Hong Kong.

    Steve, you're very right to compare the two cities, however, you forgot to mention one very important distinction: access to affordable housing. Hong Kong's historic subsidized housing might not be pretty (giant slabs of concrete that practically touch the sky), but they provide service sector workers the ability to work in one of the most expensive cities in Asia.

    The solution ain't rocket science; new market development simply has to fund affordable housing, plain and simple. The development of the Expo lands is a tragic example of where something that could have been so good is heading done a predictable road.
  43. R Sanchez from writes: Doug, it's amazing how you and your generation can re-invent history to read that it was your hard work that secured your lifetime security in jobs that you are likely underqualified for, that enabled you to live cheaply, to benefit from virtually free education, and to have unprecedented social services, rather than the 400 billion debt that we all have been trying to pay down. I don't know if mortgaging the future to fatten up you boomers was hard work, but as with everything else, I'm sure you know best.

    Oh, and as a working adult I've contributed to a decade of paying more than I've received in services through jobs I've had to work very hard to get while I've watched boomers sleepwalking towards retirement. What is your legacy?
  44. Bake McBride from Vancouver, Canada writes: I was born in '65 - boomer/gen X. I don't see how boomers can be blamed other than for their sheer numbers. Thus I agree w/the simple notion of supply & demand. Vancouver is considered desirable & has finally caught up in price to other 'worldly' cities like SF.

    If you can't afford property on your own then do what some people are doing - team up w/a couple of good friends.

    To answ the property tax question: I currently pay 3300/yr on a 900k house.
  45. Mike Quinlan from Gatineau QC, Canada writes: Thanks Bake and Milos for the answer as to property taxes. Blows me away that you pay so little given the valuation of your homes. Here for fun I was looking at a 600K property and property taxes not including school taxes were over 8000 a year.
  46. chico riviera from vancouver, Canada writes: go west from Canada writes: Boo hoo, you can't buy a house in the most expensive city in the country at 23.

    I don't feel this article is claiming that 20 year olds are upset that they are unable to purchase real estate right now. It is the reality that we cannot afford housing in the future, despite spending the majority of our twenties in school (to become overeducated and overqualified for a low-paying entry level job because the job we aspire for is currently taken by a boomer). Many things bring young people to Vancouver, but this is a predominant reason why young people do not (cannot) stay.

    Doug, maybe it is not a matter of placing blame on a generation but the realization that your hard work is no harder than ours, and that nostalgia for a time lost is not a resolution for the concerns of the present.
  47. go west from Canada writes: Michael G from Calgary, AKA grasshooper: chances are I'm younger than you, doesn't change my of point of view. Hey, that rhymes. Try Manhattan for a few years, get a taste for real rents.
  48. Anita A from Canada writes: Doug from BC from Canada writes: I am a "Boomer" and I can assure you that folks in my generation were not given "McMansions" at the age of 23 as you expect. Most of us rented until we were in our late 20's or thirties and then bought 800-900 sq. ft. houses and raised our kids there. Later on we saved and were able to afford larger homes. ****************************************************************Wow how nice for you. Do you have any idea how much a 800-900 sq ft house in East Vancouver costs?? Over half a million dollars, minimum. And even then you'd be hard pressed to find a house in that price range that was even liveable. For a first time buyer with $50,000 down they would still be carrying a $450,000 mortgage, which would be almost $3000 a month in mortage costs. *************************************************************************************Are you trying to tell me that you and your generation had to pay 100% of your income towards a mortgage??? ($50,000/yr gross would bring a take home pay of around $3000/mo. ) No, I didn't think so.
  49. Unrepentant Outdoorsman from Canada writes: Travis Sellar from Canada writes:
    I think the poor should eat The Boomers as they've come to think, and act, only for themselves and in the most dangerous of ways. Bankrupting future resources for immediate self-gratification. A far cry from the generation that was going to change the world. Unless, of course, they meant for the worse. In which case they succeeded. Applause to you Boomers. Now let the hue and cry begin of how you're being miscast.

    Sounds like your typical inheritence planner. Of course, once received, the first thing you'll do is use it to benefit your generation, right? The Boomer generation will be responsible for the largest transfer of wealth ever in human history. Trillions of dollars in assets will be transfered to the dependant children of these boomers. Sadly, I see too many who are content to just sit on their backsides and do nothing, just waiting for mom and dad to kick off.
  50. Scotia Rae from Canada writes: Actually its the boomers who have benefited from the greatest transfer of wealth in the country's history - from their parents and its going on right now. Let me take you down a little history lesson on generations. The Roaring 20s were called it for a reason - because the generation that fought WW1's carnage (boomers' grandparents) were happy to be alive and spent spent spent. They spent beyond their means. They bought everything on credit (store credit instead of today's credit cards). Eventually it all collapsed and the Depression set it. They were poor and could not provide for their kids. Incedently they ended up very very poor in their old age so the government created CPP scheme, etc. Their kids (the boomers parents) lived through it and realized the value of a dollar. They then were frugal. They fought WWII and decided to make things better for their children (the boomers) They also created the social safety net but never paid into the health care program. The boomers, who had grown up with frugal parents, decided to bust out and spend spend spend (credit cards, the 1980s, etc) and went through some minor recessions but never a depression and in Canada, never a war. They spent lavishly on their children, lavishly on the gov't, etc and never saved a dime. Now their parents who were frugal are dying and leaving large estates which the boomers are pouring into McMansions, Hummers, etc along with taking out huge home equity loans. Spending is the life they grew up with and in some ways they are very similar to their grandparents generation. The boomers kids lived good lifes growing up but because they are small in number are still living in the shadow of the boomers and cannot compete with their spending for now. But eventually the boomers too will get old and have to downsize, deflating the housing market.
  51. Tom MacLeod from downtown east side vancouver, Canada writes: It is quite easy to distinguish the old from young in this discussion. The young are talking about the topic, and city, at hand while the older are blessing us with stories of housing booms in other parts of the world of which we have no time to care about. I am a film student taking a year off to work. I average 75 to 90 work hours a week for 8 dollars an hour, live on east hastings surrounded by crackheads and prostitutes, have no hot water, no fridge, no oven or stove, no heat, and can barely make ends meet. So for All you "Boomers" who think we dont have it bad consider where you were living at 24 and compare it to myself and so many others i know in the same situation.
  52. J A from Ottawa, Canada writes: Why do you have to stay in Vancouver with all these problems? I left Vancouver many years ago exactly due to the problems that the article talks about.

    Somebody mentioned Hong Kong public housing. In Hong Kong, about half of the population lives in government housing. The government also builds and sells below market value apartments to lower income families. Singapore has the same policy. On the whole, about 60 - 70% of the population in Hong Kong has subsidized housing in one form or another.
  53. N A from Toronto, Canada writes: Oh for Pete's sake, stop whining about how Boomers are carving up the entire planet for themselves. We're the ones looking after aging parents and paying their Canada Pension Plan premiums knowing that there won't be anything for us left in the pot when retirement comes around.
  54. Renee Picard from Vancouver, Canada writes: I am glad that these issues are being brought up. I feel that society seems to favor those with homes and families, and others get left behind. Many people I know are not planning on having families for financial reasons, and the (associated) political, environmental, and social ills facing us today.

    I know a lot of people (around age 30) who are students or recent grads with huge debts. They work hard and contribute to their community, sometimes putting in many volunteer hours outside of full-time jobs or classes. And if their parents don't have the money to give them on a down payment and/or haven't been able to help them through school, they are screwed in terms of ever owning property, or going back to school in order to get a job with a decent enough salary to ever think about owning here.

    We contribute to our communities because we love this city, we want it to thrive; but I keep wondering how WE can thrive when we are burning out trying to support ourselves AND work towards a better city/world?

    I don't really know the solution to this, but I think it's crucial to point out that many people are in the same boat...if for no other reason than to remind each other that we're not alone.

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