[URBAN NOTE] "Vancouver rental market places people in a ‘lower class’"
Andrea Woo's article in The Globe and Mail tells a disturbing tale. Who will be left to live in Vancouver, at this rate?
In all, Sofia Pickstone put up about 40 posters in two days, stapling them to telephone posts in the Vancouver neighbourhoods she hopes to live in by the fall.
“Emily Carr student looking for a place to rent,” read the poster, in large illustrated letters. “Very tidy, quiet and responsible student in search of affordable accommodation in this neighbourhood. Thanks!”
The double Os in the word “looking” were made to look like binoculars, held by a cartoon version of Ms. Pickstone, 19. Tear-off tabs contained her contact information.
The postering effort came after a couple of months of scouring online advertisements daily for an affordable place to stay - a room under $700, ideally - and finding nothing, said the student. Most people didn’t even respond to her e-mails; when they did, it was usually to say the place had been taken.
[. . .]
In Metro Vancouver’s eye-watering real-estate market, many renters, too, are finding themselves in a desperate scramble for adequate housing. The region’s rental vacancy rate is just 0.8 per cent - a figure that is shaved down to just 0.6 per cent in the city of Vancouver, where the majority of residents are renters. Housing experts say a healthy vacancy rate is between 3 and 5 per cent.
In all, Sofia Pickstone put up about 40 posters in two days, stapling them to telephone posts in the Vancouver neighbourhoods she hopes to live in by the fall.
“Emily Carr student looking for a place to rent,” read the poster, in large illustrated letters. “Very tidy, quiet and responsible student in search of affordable accommodation in this neighbourhood. Thanks!”
The double Os in the word “looking” were made to look like binoculars, held by a cartoon version of Ms. Pickstone, 19. Tear-off tabs contained her contact information.
The postering effort came after a couple of months of scouring online advertisements daily for an affordable place to stay - a room under $700, ideally - and finding nothing, said the student. Most people didn’t even respond to her e-mails; when they did, it was usually to say the place had been taken.
[. . .]
In Metro Vancouver’s eye-watering real-estate market, many renters, too, are finding themselves in a desperate scramble for adequate housing. The region’s rental vacancy rate is just 0.8 per cent - a figure that is shaved down to just 0.6 per cent in the city of Vancouver, where the majority of residents are renters. Housing experts say a healthy vacancy rate is between 3 and 5 per cent.