Housing and The City: Getting Better Balance on the Road to More Attainable Housing

Housing is one of the core challenges in Victoria and its surrounding communities. Housing is generally not considered affordable, neither for homeowners nor renters with some of the highest home prices and rental prices in the country. In general, those who have chosen to call Victoria home have had to make trade-offs and sacrifices to be feasible for them to do so and that has been the circumstance for many decades.

The City is somewhat constrained in what it can or cannot do (zoning and bylaws being among the limited tools at its disposal) and going it alone on some policies may only result in some problems becoming exacerbated. As an example, due to a lack of national/provincial service standards for social housing, cities that provide it tend to be overwhelmed with those seeking access to those services. The city needs to identify the specific strategies it may undertake to make housing more attainable for those who are looking to contribute to this city as citizens, while ensuring the city does not become a place that is abused at the expense of tax paying and respectful residents. Some aspects of the housing problem must be led by either the provincial or federal governments – as an example access to mental health and residential addictions treatment.

The City also limits itself when it fails to adequately understand the issues at work and does not collect adequate information with respect to the local housing market, the status of housing and housing affordability in the region. Improved information on our housing assets would be tremendously useful in understanding what strategies are needed to alleviate housing challenges, what strategies are working and what strategies will help people to better navigate our housing market in ways that better meet their individual needs.

The goal should be market housing supply that enables our local economy to function well for those who are seeking to be contributing members of our community as absent adequate housing options, employers struggle to find reliable labour, communities experience higher levels of resident turnover, and economic disparity increases. Further, a dysfunctional housing market contributes to using dysfunctional substitutes for appropriate housing. A high functioning city has citizens who are of every economic stripe and facilitates a housing supply that meets needs at every level. A high functioning city, to the extent feasible, encourages home ownership and long-term residency. A high functioning city enables those who call it home to economically advance in their lives, to build businesses and deep connections to their community. 

So, from my perspective, what can the city do to do better on the housing file? (A lot) What can the city do to ensure that it remains a place that people want to call home? (A lot) What can the city do to ensure that communities are respected while needs are better met? (A lot)

Ideas on what can be done will follow in subsequent posts.



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