No bragging rights come with Greater Victoria鈥檚 ranking as the place with the second-least-affordable housing market in the country. The high cost of housing is a drag on the economy, creates labour shortages, puts local businesses at a disadvantage and helps foster poverty.
It鈥檚 a complex problem not easily solved, but municipalities and the province should be examining ways they can mitigate the situation, such as higher densities, public housing, easing land-use restrictions and lowering taxes and fees.
Affordability is calculated by comparing the cost of housing to income. The median house price in Victoria is $445,100, while the median income is $66,600, which makes the region second to Vancouver when it comes to housing unaffordability.
The higher the price of a home, the less disposable income a family has, which means people are spending less locally. High real estate prices also contribute to the rising burden of debt, as people increasingly rely on their credit cards and lines of credit.
For those at the other end of the scale, owning a home is an impossible dream. A high proportion of their income goes to paying rent, for which they accumulate no equity, and the gap between the haves and the have-nots widens.
The high cost of housing discourages people from moving to the region, limiting the pool of qualified workers local businesses can draw from when they seek new employees. It makes it more difficult for young families to live here, which dampens the vibrancy of a community.
Municipal officials are not ignorant of the problems. Oak Bay approved a revised official community plan last fall that supports looking at a wider range of housing options. Langford and Saanich have taken steps to increase housing density.
We do not advocate massive, drab Soviet-style apartment blocks, but we would welcome measures that could ease the housing-cost bite.
