BristolUK

We have a few down on Main St and there's an infamous one who keeps ending up in court for standing at a busy junction.

I spent half a day in Fredericton once. Canada's version of Salisbury I'm thinking now.

scrubbedexpat091

This is the problem with BC, even in small places like 100 mile house, or Quesnel and Williams Lake, rents are still mostly over 1,000 a month. Having to rent housing is the most frustrating thing ever.

https://cariboo.craigslist.org/d/apt...ent/search/apa

beckiwoo

Young People moving to the East Coast

Siouxie

Have you looked on kijiji?
https://www.kijiji.ca/b-house-rental...pet-friendly=1

scrubbedexpat091

Yeah I do.

scilly

Are you prepared for much more snow that we get in Vancouver? It means heavier clothing needed 'cos it's colder than here.

scrubbedexpat091

Regardless of where we go there will likely be more snow and be colder then Vancouver, staying in Vancouver isn't an option long term unless 1) rents suddenly drop which isn't likely, or 2) we luck out and get a BC Housing subsidized unit which is also unlikely, so the only hope is to find somewhere we can hopefully live more comfortably and lower rent.

Snow and cold has never bothered me.

BristolUK

Did you experience Ontario winter when you lived in Port Hope?

I experienced a whole Montreal winter and parts of another before moving here. The first winter here was really easy to handle. It was a bit tiring in other winters with the snow clearing but not too bad once you developed the routine; how best to do it and where to push the snow.
The worst part is clearing it all only for the damn city plow to pass and stick another snow bank across the drive. The upside, of course, is that the city plow makes the streets clear so everyone can still get around.

I used to complain of 'overplowing' - the streets being clear enough, including width, for traffic but the plows kept making new passes - but now, because I have a guy who comes to clear the drive, I no longer worry about it. Now I just think of the greater snowfall here than, say, parts of Ontario as being a 30cm storm instead of 20cm or maybe a couple of more snowstorms per winter and if the different plowing services take care of it, it actually makes little difference to me.

Of course I don't have work to have to get to, but my stepdaughter does so there is still some access that needs to be taken care of pending the arrival of the guy who does our drive. Problem solved if you're in an apartment building.

Other than higher heating costs, the cold needn't be a problem. People still get out and about even to walk dogs.

scrubbedexpat091

I have lived in a few snowy places, Milwaukee, Chicago, Edmonton, and Port Hope in ON, mostly a renter in an apartment complex (except Edmonton)so shoveling wasn't something I ever had to do, one benefit to apartment life. Edmonton was the one exception but I only had to clear like 5 feet of sidewalk in front of the house.

MillieF

scrubbedexpat091

Seems the be the problem with Canada, where there are jobs, housing is not affordable and you struggle, where housing is affordable there are no jobs and you struggle.

BEVS

Okays.
So I'm not in Canada & Canada is a mahoosive place in my mind.


Where is the areas where rents are considered affordable. <---- big huge question.

Where is there work, the likes of which J may be able to sustain even for a year or so ? <----- big huge question.

I've no idea of benefit $ levels. What rental properties match those incomes of those unable to work.

Are benefit levels then below state pension levels? How do pensioners who do not own property manage?

Is there no state housing lists?

Most places would have an airport of some sort, right? That is in J's line of work. The work he is trained to do.

scilly

Bevs ........

one of the major differences between Canada and the UK, is that we are a Federation of provinces, rather like Australia is a federation of states.

Thus the provinces have a lot more "rights", and a lot of things are provincial rights ..... such was welfare rates, support of disabled people, benefits in general, as well as education, medical, etc etc.

Rates for benefits can vary enormously between provinces, as can the hoops one has to jump in order to receive them.

Plus we have "have" and "Have not" provinces ............... in its simplest term, a have-not province receives funding from the provincial government taken from the taxes paid by "have" provinces. It's supposed to be some form of equalization, so that those provinces with low employment and thus low taxes being paid to the feds receive a benefit so they can maintain education, medical, benefits etc at about the same level as the "haves".

Doesn't always work that way though!

The "federation" also means that salaries for the same or similar jobs often vary between provinces ......... for example, BC teachers are among the lowest paid in the whole of Canada. That's because such regulated professions are provincially oriented, and the Teachers' Association of each province negotiates salaries, benefits, etc with its provincial government. Same for nurses, etc etc.

Pensioners get two basic pensions from the Federal Government that they paid into while they were working ........ Old Age Security and Canada Pension Plan. The two together are considered enough for basic living ............ totals about $11,000 a year. At that level, a pensioner can also apply every year for GIS (Guaranteed Annual Supplement). Fine if you bought a house many years ago, have no mortgage, and household expenses such as city taxes, heat, lighting, etc don't continue to increase. Not good if expenses continue to rise, or you live in rented accommodation and the landlord keeps increasing the rent.

There is a great lack all over the country, as far as I am aware, of rental accommodation that is affordable by people on the very lowest incomes, ie on benefits, welfare and pensions.

In many parts of Canada middle-income people can also have difficulty finding affordable housing, eg Vancouver and many parts of BC, Toronto, etc

I know I've been a bit simplistic in some ways, but I didn't want to get into too much detail .... I think an overview gives you an idea.

scrubbedexpat091

Disability by and large is done on the provincial level, so varies greatly, and its very hard to move from one province to another and get back on disability, can take several years in the new province, and no guarantee you would meet the criteria in another province and of course need to have a doctor in the new province agree you have a disability and fill out the paperwork, finding a doctor can take several years on its own depending on where you are.

Moving provinces when disabled and relying partly on government disability income is difficult, and risky and not a simple task.

I don't know about other provinces but BC has a subsidized housing registry and we are eligible for it, and we are on the registry list for nearly every region for BC, and we update it every 6 months as required to stay on the list, we have been on the list almost 4 years now, and thus far have never gotten a call from a housing provider which isn't unusual, there simply isn't enough supply and a lot of demand. But we are on the list.

Subsidized housing is about the only way to get housing within the amount provided by disability, disability provides $570 per month for housing to a couple in BC, $375 per month for a single, so nearly everyone on disability not in subsidized housing has to use a portion or all of their living support funds to cover rent leaving little to nothing left to live on.

We have applied for lower cost market rate rental units that were $200-$300 less then we pay now, still not affordable but lower cost anyhow, but we have not been approve anywhere yet, but its a competitive rental market and a couple on disability will not likely be the strongest applicant, so its an uphill battle.

These are the disabled rates for BC, amount depends on family unit size. Rates have 2 components the housing component and the support component, housing amount provided for a couple is $570 and $375 for a single, since these amounts don't reflect reality most on disability not living in subsidized housing end up using a large portion of their support amount as well just to pay rent. (support amount is supposed to cover food, hydro and other living costs.)

Obviously affordable will be subjective based on ones income. According to the City of Vancouver we live in an affordable market rate rental at 1,750 per month, but the city is likely using the median income which is around 72,000 a year for a household, where our income last year was 61% less so 1,750 is far from affordable for us, but might very well be affordable for someone making 72k a year.

Old age scares me as we wont have any personal savings going into it, and we are not professionals or government employees and the type of jobs we get don't have retirement pensions/programs so we will enter old age with no private pension/savings, we wont own a house so will be paying rent for life, so I fear old age will be the most difficult time and a huge amount of struggle.

BristolUK

@ BEVS

Scilly has provided an excellent summing up.

It is worth noting that as there are differences over Canada, there are also differences within the province. I'm lucky enough to have not needed to work here (I say lucky, but it was actually careful planning. ) so I don't actually have the experience of looking for work other than through the stepkids.

I'm always puzzled by the 'no jobs' idea as I wonder who staffs the universities, hospitals, schools, the numerous government departments (federal, provincial and municipal), retail centres, airport, hotels (for Js) and all the rest of it. Perhaps cronyism and all the rest applies, I don't know. But I've seen many reports of new independent business succeeding with people from other parts of Canada. Indeed half the local newspaper columnists seem to have moved here from Montreal and Toronto as well as Nova Scotia..

It seems to me that an awful lot of people on BE have in demand jobs and their pay levels and conditions are well above those of ordinary folk. One only need read the threads on vacation allowances where two weeks is the norm but for a lot of BE people they get what was normal in the UK. They also have great medical coverage not available to most.
I say this because that may cloud their view as to the nature of good jobs here, relative to what they are used to.

In my part of NB we have a brand spanking new entertainment/events centre of the sort that my home city of Bristol doesn't have and have been talking about having for nigh on 20 years. That such a place can be built would suggest my city is thriving in some way. Every time I look, the unemployment rate is more in line with Canada than the province. And the patient/doctor ratio is very good here last time I looked too. Well above Canada's norm.

I used to own a duplex. For most of the time I had it, I had no trouble renting it but I sold up in 2016 after a couple of years of problems, mostly caused by a big increase in rental vacancy rates. The reason? A series of apartment buildings going up all over the city, many of them of the executive type. That should tell something about the economy; they're not building them to stay empty.

And now, a couple of years on, the vacancy rates have dropped to what they used to be and I'm also a bit surprised at the rents being paid. Well someone can afford all these expensive rentals can't they.

But there are still many affordable, decent places around, like the one I sold.

Of course the province is poor, but not everywhere within the province. I dare say one could wander around Toronto or Vancouver and have a great impression of Ontario and BC. Until one sees other parts. Those extremes don't exist in my part.

I happen to think my city in NB is a great place to live. Of course there are things missing that one would get in a big city but with an average sort of job, good health and the low housing costs here there's really no reason why one can't have a very good life and then go visit all those places that have the extra things.

Think of all those snowbird seniors who toddle off to Florida for winter. They can't be that badly off can they?

I think Seniors do quite well here. Canada doesn't "do" information very well. Read the websites on pensions and you can come up with a likely income in retirement, just as you can in the UK. But it only deals in examples where people would get the equivalent of the maximum UK pension.

In the UK, you probably know that if your state pension is not at the full rate, your potential Pension Credit (subject to other conditions) goes up to make up the shortfall.

Well the same thing happens in Canada, they just don't publish the figures. I posted a magazine article about it once that did give the information and the minimum for a senior is closer to $16000. About $1400 a month. It's more than my family of four were getting for a few years. Not great if your rent is more than a thousand...it just needn't be. My MIL was renting a three bedroom apartment and managing fine before she moved to join us. She was on just a bit more than the minimum.

Different experiences but most of the population - Canadians - live with it day in, day out and are happy enough even with the usual groans about tax grabs and the like.