Non-resident ownership stats also affect North Shore communities

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News reports yesterday and today focused heavily on a new Statistics Canada report on levels of non-resident housing ownership in Vancouver and Toronto. But the Stats Can study also had details on all of the other communities in Metro Vancouver including the Districts of North and West Vancouver and the City of North Vancouver.

At 7.6%, the City of Vancouver had the highest level of non-resident ownership. Richmond was close behind at 7.5%.

On the North Shore, West Vancouver at 6.2% had the highest level of non-resident ownership while North Van City (3.8%) and District (2.4%), were far down the list.

Details of the report can be found here:

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/171219/dq171219b-eng.htm?HPA=1

In the District of North Vancouver this would mean roughly one in 40 homes are owned by a non-resident. The study does not look at the level of property speculation among Canadian residents.

The non-resident ownership is apparently heavily focused on condominiums, particularly high end condominiums.

The impact of non-resident ownership is one of the most heavily talked about issues in the discussion of why housing prices are rising so rapidly. The information for all of the Metro Vancouver local governments is shown below.

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Thanks to the DNV for quick work on a hazardous foot bridge

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A few days ago we posted a blog about a letter we had written to the DNV about the hazardous condition of a foot bridge crossing Mission Creek between Delbrook Avenue and the Delbrook Lands. You can see the earlier post here.

Is the footbridge from Delbrook to the Delbrook lands a hazard that should be removed?

This is what the footbridge looked like at the time:

This is what the site looks like today:

The structure has been largely demolished with only the two main support beams left to go. Within ten days of our letter the DNV had taken action and we appreciate it.

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North Vancouver so far resisting trend to inequality

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The Globe and Mail has an interesting article today discussing how in Vancouver, wealthy communities are moving east, while “Burnaby, Richmond and Surrey – places that used to symbolize a comfortable, middle class existence – now show the highest concentrations of low-income households.”

North Vancouver, the article reports, “has maintained a solid half/half mix of middle-income and high-income neighbourhoods over 35 years, with a negligible 3 per cent increase in low-income areas.”

One commentator in the article argues, “The danger in such a trend is that a region with dramatic inequality leads to segregation, ghettoization and growing feelings of frustration and resentment. ”

University of B.C. geography professor David Ley, argues that rapid development is not the solution:

“The wide-open supply argument has been thoroughly tested and it’s been found wanting,” he says. “The problem has simply been aggravated. I think now, finally, people are recognizing that supply is not a problem solver, but in fact a problem generator because it is pricing up land all the time.”

As for the city’s (Vancouver) new housing strategy, which acknowledges that unabated development is not a solution, Dr. Ley says it’s a start.

An interesting article with some eye opening graphics. You can find it here:

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/vancouver/how-income-inequality-is-reshaping-metrovancouver/article37196565/

 

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Is the footbridge from Delbrook to the Delbrook lands a hazard that should be removed?

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Most people will not be aware that there is footbridge across Mission Creek connecting Delbrook Avenue to the site of the old Delbrook Recreation Centre across the street from the soccer fields at Queens and Delbrook. The Bridge has not been maintained and is deteriorating.

In May of 2016 the Delbrook Community Association wrote to the District of North Vancouver saying we believed the bridge as it stood was a hazard and an attraction to children that should be replaced. The picture below is the bridge as it stood in the summer of 2016.

In June 2016 the DCA received a letter from the Parks Department saying:

“The Parks Department has inspected the bridge and completed a condition assessment. From a public safety perspective, the bridge cannot be repaired and has reached the end of its life. The Parks Department intends to dismantle the bridge this summer, and work within the context of the Delbrook Lands Planing process to determine a future for the bridge and associated costs. The Parks Department currently does not have 2016 funding to replace the bridge, and given the current planning exercise underway for the Delbrook site, it is prudent to wait until the planning process is complete, and there is direction on the desired trails and community linkages.”

That was 18 months ago. Below is a picture of the bridge now:

In the last 18 months the danger sign has been removed and the south railing of the bridge has fallen off or been removed.

The DCA has once again written to the DNV expressing concerns abut the hazard the bridge presents, particularly for children and young people, and asking for action.

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