Thoughts on Housing
Where do you live?
As our lives moved to quarantine, this question has brought much of the world inside. In British Columbia and on South Vancouver Island it really opened my eyes to just how many people live without a private inside in which to flee. It also brought to light just how isolating many housing situations can be.
Our home province has a Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. In the last election, the NDP interpretation of our collective commitment was proposed as such:
1: Make life more affordable and easier for British Columbians.
2: Deliver the services the people of BC have come to expect from government.
3: Build a strong stable and innovative economy that works for every British Columbian.
Last fall I spent a few days in New York City, enjoying so many of the things that city is known for and many others that I had no clue about until we were present. As we walked through an incredibly dense and diverse city, the toil of several hundred years of growth and opportunity was omnipresent. Greta Thunberg had just bobbed into town during the UN summit and was doing a big speech and my wife and I strolled down to Battery Park to take in the scene. Walking through the maze, my engineer curiosity brought us to architectural wonders and feats like the High Line, an elevated railway and now urban park and promenade repurposed on the Islands West side. From this vantage point, you can look deep into structures new and old and witness just how immense the interior building volume of New York City truly is. This volume of space must certainly work out to many thousands of square feet per individual within that city. Enough, in fact, that in most places, A Gucci bag, or the latest prodigal sneaker commands more space than my wife and I had to share in our 8 story walk-up Air BNB.
Even at home in Victoria, our innate capacity to build housing is impressive. Watching a high-rise sprout from a massive hole on Fort St. or an entire hillside blasted away on Bear (“Bare”) Mountain in Langford makes my jaw drop. Not only money, but the physical equipment and talents required to make these spaces is mind boggling. When the objective of this space truly serves the good of our world then I know we are all aboard, heck, even if it is just a hundred square feet with a personal bathroom it can seem a real luxury.
Commitment one is an inspiring thought. Is a cheaper and easier life for all British Columbians truly possible? As we press forward with so much private investment and second, third and fourth homes, how many Gucci Bags and haute couture are displacing human sleeping quarters in our local Downtown spaces. I feel a compromise is coming and sense is happening already. Maybe this time around simply “more affordable” and “easier” will not be our intended goals.
Commitment two brings to light another observation. In New York City there were rats. Rats and Garbage. New Yorkers have come to expect that the garbage gets left streetside until pickup every week by the municipal sanitation department. This was the service delivery model that people had adapted to in that ecosystem. But commitments change and this summer, the city slashed the sanitation budget more than 60% to be fiscally responsible and the citizens were left with a mess that I can only imagine as more “Ratty” and more “Garbagey” than my West Coast sensibilities would be suited. Point is, Service delivery models change and expectation is a moving target unique to every stakeholder. This begs the question: What are your expectations regarding provincial oversight of municipal matters and regulating housing and development?
Commitment three is where I see some real traction. To continue to build an economy on a foundation of foreign investment, income trusts and speculation will see more micro-condos and Rebock-renovated hillsides. Does your vision of future Oak Bay Gordon Head resemble the Manhattan skyline? Is it exactly the same as what we have now? With a thought to ourselves, as well as those isolated by quarantine and perhaps even those completely without homes, what is sustainable? What is fair? What is your dream and how can we enact it?
I mean, even ET had a home.
Ryan (rjgisler@hotmail.com)
