BristolUK

Those pics you posted - including the other thread - they look just like pics I've seen of Vancouver. Except the ones with the railway lines and apartment buildings. That one looks like Nice, France.

dbd33

When life hands you lemons, photograph the rainbow.

A two tier school system with only the children of the poor participating in the public school system is, I think, harmful to all involved. There are, of course, private schools in Ontario for the entitled brat population but there aren't enough of them for attendance to be considered usual.

scrubbedexpat091

I do think the perspective one may have on Vancouver depends on income spectrum, someone making 6 figures will likely find the city more tolerable, vs someone trying to make it on 30k a year having to sell whatever they have of value to try and make ends meet.

JamesM

As the late Rob Ford said "Swim with the sharks and you are going to be eaten.

I had a couple of good nights at Tapleys in Whistler in April but the rain at the bottom of the mountains most of the week drove me insane.

You should have pinged Oink and got pissed with him!

dbd33

I'm here to be domesticated!

Lots of low rise apartment buildings around here, it looks a lot like Scarboro:

but they have this, er, wonderful view so they're not priced like Scarboro.

scrubbedexpat091

I'll guess 1,600 to 2,000 a month range for those apartments. Probably haven't been modernized either, good chance its like walking back in the 70's....lol

Here is a low rise in kits area, not a bad price really and look a spacious 750sq feet, don't see that much anymore in the new builds, they call 500sq feet spacious now.

https://vancouver.craigslist.ca/van/...689462535.html


Might be people living in some of those vans, becoming common in Vancouver, van and RV living.

dbd33

I think you're guessing very low.

The trees have turned here already. I guess the next sunny and warm day will be in April.

scrubbedexpat091

April sounds about right....lol...trees always start about this time of year, by Halloween they will be bare.

carcajou

I would seriously, seriously challenge your conclusion that both Vancouver and US public schools are "dumping grounds" for "ESL kids" and other "troublesome" students. You don't understand the education system or culture of either place very well.

I do, however, agree with the substance of the rest of your post, which is that Vancouver is not good value. It was 20 years ago but not now. It will not change however. Urban millennials and Generation Zs have hostile attitudes towards living in rural areas or small cities off the coasts, which they associate with regressive cultural attitudes, poverty, and lack of education. So for them it's Toronto, Vancouver or bust - with some occasional spillover to places like Montreal, Calgary or Ottawa (because of high-paid government jobs needing degrees . . . otherwise they would view Ottawa the same way they do Winnipeg).

At the same time, farm economics in rural areas have changed dramatically - farms are a lot bigger, and need a lot fewer people to work them - which has put pressure on rural millennials and Generation Zs there, since the farm jobs that were there for their parents, are not there for them (unless their family actually owns a farm). They then also look to Toronto and Vancouver etc because they perceive a lot more opportunities and money are there. People talk about the decline of manufacturing almost to the point that it's become a cliche, but they often miss/don't understand the same thing has happened in agriculture. The population of British Columbia has increased by almost 3 million people since 1966; but the population of Saskatchewan, for example, is only slightly above its 1966 level. Manitoba is a little better, but still has only 300,000 more people than it did 50 years ago. Alberta has done a lot better because it has diversified its economy into energy and tourism, and, the crunch is felt less because there is more land, multiple major population centres, and the primary tourism centre is separate again from that, so the population increase has distributed more evenly rather than concentrating in one area as in Vancouver.

In the East, fishing economies have followed the pattern of agricultural economies - the Maritime provinces have barely grown at all since 1966, with Nova Scotia leading the way - an increase of only 150,000 people (New Brunswick is about the same).

The same thing has happened in Australia, and also the US.

People may be under pressure in Vancouver . . . but it's a symptom of much larger issues across the country.

scilly

I feel very strange and alien (alienated???) reading this thread.

We've lived in Vancouver for 50 years, and always loved it.

Yes, we own our own home ........... we paid $29,000 for it in 1972. But it was almost as hard to get into the housing market at an affordable price then as it is now ............. we scraped and saved for several years, and had no money for food for the first month after we bought it ............... until OH got his next salary cheque, and then we lived month by month for years. We certainly never had much tucked away for emergencies.

We still live in that house.

Yes, we sent our daughter to a private school ............ we had our own reasons for doing that, which are none of your business, but we scraped by every month, often with more month than money left.

We ate spaghetti often, cheaper cuts of meat, etc so we could afford the mortgage on the house, etc.

Holidays were usually tent camping.


Now we are reviled because we DARE to own a house. It isn't our fault that our tiny house built in 1943 has increased in price ........... and it will do sweet fanny adam to get someone like your daughter or jsmith into housing when we do sell because it is 95% certain that it will be bought by a developer, knocked down and the new one sold for twice the price.



Incidentally, the next warm weather will be next week ........... getting to over 23C by Thursday.

carcajou

Absolutely, scilly.

Nobody's business where you send your child to school, nor should any kind of label be put on you for it (nor should "troublesome" or "ESL" be put on a family who sends their kid to a government school).

You will make a good profit if/when you decide to sell. Good for you. If you choose not to sell and stay where you are until you die - also good for you. Nobody's business to weigh in on that.

dbd33

$2800 to $3000 I'm reliably informed. Of course that's not what most people pay but it is the price to start a new rental agreement.

This isn't a very good picture but it's the trailer park in West Vancouver taken from the bridge ramp.


I also tried for a picture of the shipping container housing people are being packed into but that one was even less clear.

scrubbedexpat091

RV park?

Reservations West Vancouver RV Park & Camping Sites Capilano River RV Park


If its the one I am thinking of.

People are paying good money to live in condos built to look like shipping containers.

This building isn't far from where we live. And at an affordable 518,000 perfect first home......lol

https://www.treehugger.com/green-arc...ontainers.html

We live 5 blocks east on the same street and our building is 4 years old, but that 5 blocks east means more $$$ $650k for a 1 bed 1 bath in our building.

20% of the units in our building are dedicated rentals the city made the developer do, its called market affordable housing or some silly name, but this affordable housing is 1,750 a month...not my definition of affordable but i have no idea what income level the city uses to determine the amount they consider affordable.

BristolUK

I like that expression.

dbd33

The trailer park is actually an Indian reservation, there are lots of pre-fab houses there too. The container housing is, I'm told, part of an initiative to put containers in each car park so as to have a place to put the homeless; this has homeowners in fear for their patio furniture and has led to a run on chains and anchors.

Here's an actual fishmonger's:



I have to say that it's nice to be able to stroll to a bistro and then down to admire the fog. You can't do that in the Beach.