Affordable Housing, Are We Doing All We Can?

What is affordable? There is not just one demographic here. Seniors, Single Parents, Young Adult Families, they're all in the same predicament. CMHC states; "It is recommended that your monthly housing costs should be no more than 32% of your average gross (pre-tax) monthly income." This percentage is known as your gross debt-to-income or gross debt service (GDS) ratio.

OK, let's do the math;

• Living Wage (Not Minimum, that is $15.65) in the Fraser Valley in 2021 was $16.75 per hour
• That works out at a 40 hr work week to $2,903.33 per month
• 32% of that is $929.06

Anyone know where I can get a nice place for $929.06 per month? Can I get a unit in one of the new "Affordable" rental buildings for this amount?

And this is only talking rentals...

I'll talk about high rise buildings on another page. Suffice it to say, I'm not really a fan of high rise buildings. Let's keep them under 4 floors or 3 even better... That's what mine is.

What about purchasing a home? Is there any hope whatsoever of young people "Buying In?"

I know when I sold my house I would ideally have liked a small rancher on a postage stamp lot. Not in Mission! Chilliwack was the closest. And they were too expensive. So I was forced to downsize to a condo. I preferred the condo strata over the mobile pad rental as you couldn't get conventional mortgage rate and terms on mobile.

So Condo it was. Had a hard time finding one of those and almost had to move out of town. Luckily I found a place last minute.

Is it time to explore Tiny Home / Small Home Subdivisions? Let's start coming up with alternatives. Have a look at this idea. Why do we only put these places in rural areas?

There is a Mission Sustainable Housing Committee that has several studies and reports in there worth reading. 

~ Paul ~