I tried to point this out on Reddit and Lemmy so many times and usually got downvoted. People want to believe there’s some nefarious boogeyman buying up houses and keeping them vacant, but the reality is that virtually all homes in Canada have occupants. We just don’t have nearly enough housing for the population.
Okay and you could have 50% more homes available if 20% of the SFH in a city was converted into apartments. 7% is nothing if we actually would densify what we build rather than just sprawling suburbs.
“empty or not for usual residents.” is a useless metric.
Student houses are considered “empty” if the the students have a family home to return to and haven’t updated their mailing address.
The usual residence of students is that of their parents, if they return to live with their parents during the year even if they live elsewhere while attending school or working at a summer job.
That’s why I clarified how you misinterpreted that sentence, and gave you a source from Stats Canada. I also worked the last census in KW, where there’s a large student population, so it was drilled into our heads students only count if they live in that house year round (and preferable changed the address on their ID).
I tried to point this out on Reddit and Lemmy so many times and usually got downvoted. People want to believe there’s some nefarious boogeyman buying up houses and keeping them vacant, but the reality is that virtually all homes in Canada have occupants. We just don’t have nearly enough housing for the population.
Vancouver and Toronto are currently sitting about 7% and 7.4% homes that are empty or not for usual residents. That’s a fucking massive number, imo.
Source: https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/astonishing-drop-in-number-of-empty-homes-in-metro-vancouver-census
Okay and you could have 50% more homes available if 20% of the SFH in a city was converted into apartments. 7% is nothing if we actually would densify what we build rather than just sprawling suburbs.
Sure, but let’s not pretend it’s not an issue.
“empty or not for usual residents.” is a useless metric. Student houses are considered “empty” if the the students have a family home to return to and haven’t updated their mailing address.
Wrong. It states directly in the article that students and foreign workers are not included in that metric.
From Stats Canada.
Students are usual residents of Canada, they’re not usual residents of the place they stay in while standing school.
Directly quoted from the source I posted.
That’s why I clarified how you misinterpreted that sentence, and gave you a source from Stats Canada. I also worked the last census in KW, where there’s a large student population, so it was drilled into our heads students only count if they live in that house year round (and preferable changed the address on their ID).