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Millennials Must “Show Up” if They Want Affordability Change: Housing Summit Panel
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Political officials respond to those who organize and show up.” That’s the message Paul Kershaw, a UBC professor and founder of Generation Squeeze, hit home in the opening address at Millennial Activate, an interactive panel discussion held October 25 as part of the City of Vancouver’s re:address week activities. The event’s purpose was to encourage younger generations to engage with government in order to influence housing policies. “Canada’s economy is breaking down for people in their 20s and 30s,” said Kershaw. “We earn less today for fulltime work even though we’re more likely to have post-secondary education. We have bigger student loans. We go to school longer to land jobs that pay less… Earnings are in freefall while the cost of housing is up from coast to coast.” Kershaw acknowledged that nobody should expect buying a home will be easy or without struggle or sacrifice. However, according to his math, young generations who have no financial help from family would have to work full time and save for 23 years in order to afford the down payment on an average-priced detached house in Vancouver. Meanwhile, he
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says, boomers have “benefitted from the lottery of good timing and today are using their home wealth for a secure retirement.” Kershaw said there are solutions, including taxes and how these are appropriated, changes in development zoning to improve supply, investments in purpose-built rental units, and influencing housing policy. “There aren’t many elected officials who want to see house prices fall,” he pointed out. “We need policymakers to meet us halfway. Are there other costs that could come down? Student loans? Transit? Daycare? Intergenerational trade-offs are needed to make this city work.”
Focus on Housing Supply Panelist and young lawyer Danny Oleksiuk of Abundant Housing Vancouver said he is calling on the city to increase density. Oleksiuk regularly attends council meetings and rezoning hearings to make sure his group’s point is heard. “We need to organize renters and young people to go to these meetings,” he said. “Building more housing is part of the solution to our housing crisis.
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If there’s more housing for people, more people will have more housing.” Oleksiuk champions increasing density within Vancouver’s borders and wants the federal government to tie infrastructure funding to density targets. He observed that the city’s zoning bylaws mean that apartments are currently allowed on only 19 per cent of land in Vancouver, which severely limits where more affordable multi-family units can be built.
Long-term Ramifications of High Housing Costs Generation Squeeze’s executive director, Eric Swanson, was another of the evening’s panelists. A homeowner who got his foot in the door thanks to a down payment from his grandmother, Swanson said locals must push for bold action. “All three levels of government could have done a lot more,” he says. “Housing affordability is at crisis proportions. We need to tell our elected officials to rethink the housing system. To think about it holistically. It’s not just about housing.”
Grappling with Overseas Demand According to panelist Gary Liu, tackling the voracious
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demand for housing is key, and supply is not the problem. Liu represents HALT (Housing Action for Local Taxpayers) – a non-partisan activist group that is campaigning to see the housing needs of local tax-paying residents prioritized above real estate demand from outside Canada. “A 30 per cent increase in housing prices is not natural,” said Liu. “We have been building more and more than ever before; supply is not the main problem. This is a crisis of epic proportions and government is dropping the ball.” HALT supports implementing a property tax surcharge offset by income tax. Owners who are not contributing to Canadian public finances through their income taxes would pay more tax on their properties.
Advocating for Change According to the panelists, affecting policy changes requires people to do more than discuss issues with their friends. They encouraged concerned Vancouverites to meet with their political representatives, join like-minded organizations, and to “think big” if they want to see significant housing reform.
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