Quote:
Originally Posted by niwell
I've posted this before, but the relationship between rental affordability and tent cities takes place at the margin. The person who rented a 1bdrm for $2k and was renovicted is probably going to look into roommates or maybe move back with family due to increases. Or simply make do with less. The person with addictions/mental health issues who was eking by in a SRO apartment that cost a couple hundred may not have those options as that housing typology quickly dwindles.
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I'm simplifying a bit, but I like to think of a "housing ladder", which is the housing situation people of different means and stages of their life can realistically slot into. It kind of goes something like this, from top to bottom:
A - Own your desired house, with no trade offs.
B1 - Own your desired house, but pay a mortgage slightly out of your means or make a trade-off (take in secondary suite renters)
B2 - Own a starter home that you don't really desire, as a trade-off for not going the B1 route
C1 - Own a starter home, but pay a mortgage slightly out of your means
C2 - Renting comfortably, but waiting to buy. A trade-off for not going the C1 route.
D1 - Rent a place that you like, but pay rent that is out of your means
D2 - Rent a place you don't like, as a trade-off for D1
E1 - Rent a place you don't like, but pay rent that is out of your means
E2 - Find a precarious arrangement that reduces your rent to something that is within your means: shacking up with a partner you didn't intend to shack up with; take in extra family against the rules in your lease, etc.
F1 - The precarious arrangement in E2 is what you aspire to on a good day. Otherwise, you're couch surfing.
F2 - Homeless
Since Covid, everybody I know who isn't in Group A has been knocked down a peg. I'm B2 because I refinanced in 2020 but if my mortgage comes up for renewal at the end of next year and rates are still like this, I'll be C1. My brother-in-law's household makes over $400,000 in Vancouver (VP and Sr. Manager), but they're B1. Twenty years ago they'd be A easily. I have single friends with entry-level professional jobs that are falling into E1 - they used to be D2 or even D1.