This is being driven by a massive outflow Chinese money being essentially laundered through Vancouver real estate, destroying affordability and the quality of neighborhoods, as much of it remains empty. NYC has the same problem.
18
I wish the US would outlaw foreign home ownership. That would help NYC, Seattle, and countless other cities - especially near or own water - survive for the sake of US citizens.
People rail against the rich, but fail to realize that foreign ownership is a threat to the future prices of homes as well as a revenue base. Foreigners pay less, sometimes no, taxes. They rent at extraordinary rates, and no one seems to realize what this is doing to our country.
We have a housing bubble that no one seems to want to recognize. By shoring up the mortgages and continuing down the zero interest rate path from the Fed, we will see an explosion again. Except this time it may be the US citizens are paying rent to 'companies' created by foreign investors.
People rail against the rich, but fail to realize that foreign ownership is a threat to the future prices of homes as well as a revenue base. Foreigners pay less, sometimes no, taxes. They rent at extraordinary rates, and no one seems to realize what this is doing to our country.
We have a housing bubble that no one seems to want to recognize. By shoring up the mortgages and continuing down the zero interest rate path from the Fed, we will see an explosion again. Except this time it may be the US citizens are paying rent to 'companies' created by foreign investors.
17
Let's be honest here. The San Juans are the Hamptons of the West Coast. I have not read very much about New York expressing concern over the lack of affordable housing in the Hamptons. Put another way, you could squeeze out a few billion dollars from the San Juan residents, and this is the best they can offer the working class...three houses? You can't fix broke in a rich person's game.
4
"believers in the tiny-house movement are preaching the virtues, and lower costs, of simplified, stripped-down housing. "
Tiny houses might have lower costs after they are built but they are anything BUT cheap to purchase. While looking at homes between 250-400 square feet I am finding nothing under $40,000. The average is around $150/sq ft....not inexpensive in the least. Add to that, the fact that in many places these tiny homes do not make the minimum requirements for primary residences (I am looking for a cabin or cottage for some vacant acreage). On wheels, they are barred from many areas as a mobile home or travel trailer. Without wheels, too small....minimum here is 720 sq feet.
Tiny houses might have lower costs after they are built but they are anything BUT cheap to purchase. While looking at homes between 250-400 square feet I am finding nothing under $40,000. The average is around $150/sq ft....not inexpensive in the least. Add to that, the fact that in many places these tiny homes do not make the minimum requirements for primary residences (I am looking for a cabin or cottage for some vacant acreage). On wheels, they are barred from many areas as a mobile home or travel trailer. Without wheels, too small....minimum here is 720 sq feet.
6
Approximately 30% of Washington's road tax and vehicles fees goes to support the ferry system so all those poor people living on the San Juan Islands can have lower ferry fares. Washington State should not only take Canada's old houses, they should also take Canada's ferry system model which is self supporting. Next time you drive down the crappy Washington state roads, remember 30% of the funds went to support those struggling people on the San Juan Islands living in their 1/2 million dollar homes.
6
BC's ferry system is not so great since they privatized it. Ticket costs have doubled in about 10 years.
I just used it a couple of weeks ago and it cost $71.00 Vancouver-Victoria for one person and a car - each way.
I just used it a couple of weeks ago and it cost $71.00 Vancouver-Victoria for one person and a car - each way.
1
Wow!I remember living in Vancouver and often having to go to Victoria on that ferry. I still remember that nice ride, the sound of the whistle, the cold wind. This was the fun part of living out there when it was still affordable. Miss it. But,it was definitely cheaper then.
1
"Privatization" doesn't mean the same thing in Canada as it does in the US. The government still pays subsidies to BC Ferry. Without those subsidies there would be no ferry. It costs over $90 to take the ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo with a car and two adults. That's one way.
Don't let the "Michigan" throw you. I lived in Nova Scotia and have family in Vancouver including a nephew and 2 nieces in school at Shawinigan Lake on Vancouver Island so I am quite familiar with the ferry system.
Don't let the "Michigan" throw you. I lived in Nova Scotia and have family in Vancouver including a nephew and 2 nieces in school at Shawinigan Lake on Vancouver Island so I am quite familiar with the ferry system.
3
If affordable living is what's being sought, then they better be putting those houses on .5-1 acre each. That way people have enough land to garden their food and maybe put in a few chickens too. Self sufficiency should be the key, letting people do for themselves as much as possible.
6
It's an island, land is at a premium
It is quite possible to feed a family of 4 on the produce grown in 500-1000 sq feet. As for livestock (including chickens) maybe they can do a community farmyard and garden and make more efficient use of the land. I agree with your basic premise but, as Fred says, it's an island and there's not a lot of land available.
2
You can effectively grow enough produce for a family of 4 in very little space. We did it on a deck that was only 250 sq feet. The trick is to think vertically.
1
In spite of the positive aspects of the program described, I find myself depressed and discouraged by the story about Kat Sherman and her fiancé, Adam D'Errico. Here is a couple, nearly 40 years old who have to work 2 jobs to afford a re-cycled house. Imagine, a median priced home costing $500,000! Indeed, this "home of their own" will be an albatross around their necks, and instead of providing stability and permanence will be the source of monthly anxiety as their mortgage payment comes due.
The better way to provide the stability and permanence is to insure that the "worker bees" that the author refers to, can make a living wage and have time to be enjoy the American dream of a home and family life.
The better way to provide the stability and permanence is to insure that the "worker bees" that the author refers to, can make a living wage and have time to be enjoy the American dream of a home and family life.
11
What makes a "recycled home" any different than buying any other home that someone else has lived in? As for their situation, they made the choice to live on the island KNOWING full well it has a high cost of living and that they would not have jobs paying 6 figures. So I don't feel sorry for them. They are living where they want to live. I think it's wonderful they will be able to own a home. There are MANY people throughout the US (indeed, the world) who never have that opportunity as well as living in such a lovely place.
2
when th rich want to live someplace, you better get out of their way
you just better
you just better
14
Living on an island has ALWAYS been expensive. Yes, it's sad the median home cost is $500,000 but that means that half the homes are less...if you choose to live on an island you do so knowing full well it's going to be more expensive than living on the mainland.
2
How sad to see what has become of Vancouver and the island. Every house is being torn down and replaced by apartment buildings that are monotonously the same. Just another version of Hong Kong. Glad to see some of these homes going to the San Juan's. You can put the odd house on a barge, but truthfully the whole character of the lower mainland has been sold and changed forever. And of course no one knows where these ill gotten gains have come from. The sell out of Vancouver started more than thirty years ago and while everyone was rubbing their fingers together in glee, the whole character of the region disappeared.
25
When Marathon Oil in Louisiana bought up miles of the property on River Road across from the levee some 30 years ago, they sold several plantation homes to be moved and we bought one. The movers cut the house up and moved it to our property in a swamp 40 miles away, it was a nerve wracking day for sure.
After they reassembled the house, it took weeks to remove it from the trucks and piers because it rained almost every day. The fun began when we had to replace every bit of wiring and plumbing, most of the Sheetrock that had been added over the century and a half since it had been built and of course painting, lots and lots of painting.
The difference I see between our experience and the ones in this story was that in our case, we were not getting ripped off like these people are. We paid less than a third of what new houses were going for at the time and that was with the moving and improvements and we got a plantation, not a 1960s bungalow!
In 1970 the cost of a brand new 3 bedroom, 2 bath brick home on 2 lots in an upper middle class neighborhood here was $16-20K ...did people's wages go up by a quarter million a year?
The cost of houses nowadays is insane, people used to buy houses that were a third of their yearly income, not 5 to 10 times MORE than their yearly income. There is no way that the prices legitimately went up 1,000% in 40 years. Did inflation go up 1,000%? Did the cost of wood and glass go up 1,000%?
After they reassembled the house, it took weeks to remove it from the trucks and piers because it rained almost every day. The fun began when we had to replace every bit of wiring and plumbing, most of the Sheetrock that had been added over the century and a half since it had been built and of course painting, lots and lots of painting.
The difference I see between our experience and the ones in this story was that in our case, we were not getting ripped off like these people are. We paid less than a third of what new houses were going for at the time and that was with the moving and improvements and we got a plantation, not a 1960s bungalow!
In 1970 the cost of a brand new 3 bedroom, 2 bath brick home on 2 lots in an upper middle class neighborhood here was $16-20K ...did people's wages go up by a quarter million a year?
The cost of houses nowadays is insane, people used to buy houses that were a third of their yearly income, not 5 to 10 times MORE than their yearly income. There is no way that the prices legitimately went up 1,000% in 40 years. Did inflation go up 1,000%? Did the cost of wood and glass go up 1,000%?
28
This is taking recycling to a new level! Around here, we see too many completely serviceable homes being bulldozed to rubble so that a larger, usually less attractive home (monstrosity, might be a better word) can be built to the absolute limits permitted on the lot. What a waste!
14
Yes, Washington WAS a beautiful place to live at one time. Now? You can't get anywhere. LA is wonderful for traveling by comparison. And the state, in all its wisdom has just stolen 2 lanes out of the limited freeways lanes there were. Lanes already paid for, at high cost by the public - who is now squeezed into even more limited road space.
If you are thinking about moving to the great NW - please, do yourself and everyone else a favor. Come & try to drive around the area for a few days before moving there.
If you are thinking about moving to the great NW - please, do yourself and everyone else a favor. Come & try to drive around the area for a few days before moving there.
9
The same could be said of pretty much every major metro area. I was just in Phoenix where bumper-to-bumper is in full swing by 3pm. Having learned to drive in Chicago, this was not a big deal but not expected....
1
You might want to add a qualifier to your "Yes, Washington WAS a beautiful place to live.." Washington state is a big state. You are referencing the slab of land over-occupied by humans on the west side of the Cascades. Where I live in Washington state is still Normal Rockwell country, free of crime, free of pollution, free of traffic and filled with friendly people who know our neighbors. Seven-eighths of the state is known for stating that the sliver west of the Cascades forgets there is land to the east of the Cascades...lots and lots and lots of it. Thanks for making those observations a fact. You might want to leave that traffic behind and your high prices and see what else is in Washington state. Good grief.
There was a recent article about the end to the congestion recession in urban areas. The increase in jobs has meant an increase in autos on the roads. And congestion is up five-fold. I am so lucky to not have to deal with that here -- not one iota of it. Here you can still buy a residential lot that is 1/3 of an acre, build a new three story custom home on it for a total of 275-300K and drive 15 miles in 13 minutes to a tech job in a major university town. The sky is blue and the fishing in the evenings are great. Check out southviewliving.com should you want to escape. I just live here... but happy to share our community with people who want to live like humans again....
What is surprising is that Canada is not the one to be recycling these homes. There are many Canadians in parts of BC who can no longer afford the housing prices due to the increases brought by immigration and speculation.
15
If the land wasn't free then these houses would cost a buyer over $500K. Can't see how an old plain or ugly home with grossly out of date and worn out HVAC, wiring, plumbing, insulation, roofing, fixtures, and possibly lead paint, etc. makes any economic sense. Much better to take a brand new manufactured home - cost less than $200K - and transport it to the free land. Everything assuredly works.
There has to be a political motivation behind this action. Probably the same activists who want to make any home over 2000 sq. ft. illegal. Very fishy.
There has to be a political motivation behind this action. Probably the same activists who want to make any home over 2000 sq. ft. illegal. Very fishy.
8
@Jon Dama
Perhaps you missed the paragraph that explained the recycle/reuse ethos of the area.
Perhaps you missed the paragraph that explained the recycle/reuse ethos of the area.
2
I live in Friday Harbor, a beautiful community nestled in the San Juan Islands. We have a wonderful close-knit community and care for one another. Affordable housing is a big problem here. While many people in our community are very rich, others are not so well off. We are a diverse community economically and are proud of it. We are delighted to recycle homes; why destroy lovely housing that others would benefit from? Canadians are our nearby neighbors and it makes perfect sense to share. This is the Northwest way. Come visit, and enjoy our pristine environment, clean air, no traffic jams, friendly locals, and abundant wildlife of eagles, whales, deer, fox, and other wonderful creatures. Our sunrises and sunsets over the water are first class. Visit our vibrant highly ranked schools, our beautiful community theater, and other unique stores in our downtown core. We will also proudly show you our recycled homes. Welcome to Friday Harbor!
16
Nearly 40% of the homes in San Juan Island remain empty at any given time of the year. Wealthy individuals buy second homes and then vacation here at any given time. Many other homes, are vacation rentals. This leaves a very small margin for middle class (young families) families to buy, or even rent. As someone who moved here for a job and has continued to live here, San Juan Island is not just some luxurious location. I have never visited the Hamptons (as someone else suggested it resembles), but San Juan Island is actually a largely rural community with a long history that has good schools with lots of kids, working farms, and a healthy tourism season. It is a legitimate concern that normal people who live and work should be able to find and afford housing-renting or owning. These people make up the majority of what I would call both the heart of the place and the machinery. The inability to find housing is a persistent problem that has worsened over that last 10 years. If it is not addressed the community will not be able to maintain basic services, or a thriving economy.
24
The fact that the residents won't "settle" for more economically feasible manufactured homes says a lot. While I applaud saving these homes, let's be honest. Saving money is NOT the goal or, if it is, someone is BADLY misinformed. There is nothing cost effective about moving these old homes and fixing them up....which multiplies the cost of these homes.
2
th middle class has no place in th future
th rich now regard you as unpleasant necessities until robot slaves can be perfected
til then, work hard, pay yopur taxes , and you'll get yours in th end
th rich now regard you as unpleasant necessities until robot slaves can be perfected
til then, work hard, pay yopur taxes , and you'll get yours in th end
7
Somewhat the same happens in Florida. No house on an attractive plot of waterfront is safe. In my town, whole waterfront streets have undergone house replacement.
8
There was a company doing this oh, maybe 15 - 20 years ago up there. They had a source of buildings in WA as well at the time. A really glorious old home was maybe $100K, but they had some as low as $10K or $15K as well. Can't remember their name.
(PART 2 OF 2) More recently, the same phenomenon reappeared, not because of freeway construction but due to the buying of two adjacent lots to construct McMansions with the required two-house teardown and removal. But under today's even crazier expensive environmental rules in La La Land, it was cheaper to remove the old house, even to another country, to satisfy that market (in fact, it might even have made a profit), as was reported in the local press there in recent years. I thought it was a great idea, as an old-house fancier, a win-win situation, rather than turning them into expensive rubble. This was, however, private enterprise meeting a need, generated by government folly, whereas here it's government taking advantage of another government's environmental impositions, but however you look at it, there's just something right about saving and reusing a house built with actual two by fours, where the dimensions of the lumber genuinely measure 2" by 4".
3
(PART 1 OF 2) As you note, this is not a new idea. The forces driving this in another location are exactly the same namely fanciful environmental rules which demand a far more expensive teardown than heretofore, in the range of the numbers supplied in this article. In San Diego, when freeway 805 was being built some decades ago, which cut right through the Kensington and other neighborhoods of small 1920s bungalow houses, many of them obviously had to be torn down and removed. Even then the increased costs of teardown and removal plus a similar nearby market for fully constructed, if older, houses, namely Tijuana, Mexico, combined to produce the phenomenon of houses on trucks being slowly ("large load") moved south of the border during the night hours where they were then sold to Mexican families who appreciated solid 1920s construction and copper pipes in the plumbing as being significantly better than the hodgepodge cinderblock home-built structures otherwise available to them.
1
Victoria, BC's housing market has its own problems.
Foreign money buying houses is driving prices higher similarly to what is happening in San Francisco and many other cities: extremely wealthy individuals wanting to own local real estate for whatever reason are bidding house prices up hundreds of thousands of dollars over the asking price.
Local officials and the local newspaper observe slack-jawed with no real appreciation for what pricing workers out of housing means for the local economy. Being wowed by how big the numbers are is pathetic, but it seems the best home owners here can do. I guess they are calculating how much their own homes are worth. But of course where you can afford to move after you sell is crucial and a lot of people are not capable of thinking that far ahead.
The other problem is an out-of-town property management company buying up several highrise buildings containing hundreds of affordable apartments and renovating them for no good reason beyond being able to raise the rents on them by 40% or more, a busy-work enterprise meant solely to produce a return on money unimaginably wealthy people loan to companies like this to make money on their money.
The days of an economy designed to provide shelter and other necessities to a population, if that's the way it ever was, are long gone.
Foreign money buying houses is driving prices higher similarly to what is happening in San Francisco and many other cities: extremely wealthy individuals wanting to own local real estate for whatever reason are bidding house prices up hundreds of thousands of dollars over the asking price.
Local officials and the local newspaper observe slack-jawed with no real appreciation for what pricing workers out of housing means for the local economy. Being wowed by how big the numbers are is pathetic, but it seems the best home owners here can do. I guess they are calculating how much their own homes are worth. But of course where you can afford to move after you sell is crucial and a lot of people are not capable of thinking that far ahead.
The other problem is an out-of-town property management company buying up several highrise buildings containing hundreds of affordable apartments and renovating them for no good reason beyond being able to raise the rents on them by 40% or more, a busy-work enterprise meant solely to produce a return on money unimaginably wealthy people loan to companies like this to make money on their money.
The days of an economy designed to provide shelter and other necessities to a population, if that's the way it ever was, are long gone.
80
I don't think the foreign buyers are really the problem in Victoria. Last time I looked at the statistics, they were a minuscule percentage. The real problem in Victoria is a combination of high demand and low supply. Part of the low supply is caused by the artificial restraint of trade known as the Agricultural Land Reserve. Most of the developable land in Victoria is frozen from development because of romantic notions that "We'll all starve!" if *precious* farm land is developed. Hence, the government is to blame for artificially limiting supply. There are other factors as well, but most of our problems are due to government interference in the marketplace.
2
It sounds like you don't appreciate the value of self-sufficiency. Just what do you think will happen if you can't grow your own food and must import every? You're far more vulnerable is what happens!
1
Right, self-sufficiency... as it is, our vegetables come from California and Mexico and all sorts of places. The farms in our particular area are mostly small hobby farms, not something we are depending on for survival. No, the land freeze is the consequence of romantic thinking by socialists who think that government is the solution to all problems. Except that it costs you more.
"The houses are small by modern standards and old, built in the early to mid-20th century in a booming suburb of Victoria, British Columbia, where eager buyers are now clearing the land to make way for new construction"
TRANSLATION: The "ancient" homes aren't huge, gaudy, or vulgar enough for the new-money uber-rich, who are "clearing the land" to build (no doubt, badly constructed) McMansions!
TRANSLATION: The "ancient" homes aren't huge, gaudy, or vulgar enough for the new-money uber-rich, who are "clearing the land" to build (no doubt, badly constructed) McMansions!
72
And how many are Chinese McMansions?? Canada needs to re-examine the laws allowing foreigners to take over local housing markets!
6
Thank the wealthy Chinese laundering their dirty money in Canada. They own the entire lower mainland of British Columbia. The houses on the barge are the junker teardowns that are replaced by 10 million dollar eyesores.
81
Way to stereotype an entire ethnicity...
3
And big pieces of Edmonton and Calgary as well...
19
The boogeyman that is "foreign" (a slang term used in Vancouver for, "Chinese") wealth is not purchasing property outside of the downtown core, Kitsilano, Shaughnessy, the Endowment lands, and the British Properties on the North Shore.
Housing prices are skyrocketing in neighbourhoods like Killarney, Hastings-Sunrise, Commercial, and not to mention the rest of the Lower Mainland where the mega-rich would never purchase property.
Housing prices are skyrocketing in neighbourhoods like Killarney, Hastings-Sunrise, Commercial, and not to mention the rest of the Lower Mainland where the mega-rich would never purchase property.
8
$160,000 to $210,000 is considered "affordable" housing? Yikes.
41
By the standards of housing prices in Victoria and, even worse, Vancouver, BC? Eminently so. In metro Vancouver-- an urban aggolomeration of 2.4 million people-- the average-- *average*-- price of a single detached house was $1.83 million Canadian in February, up 30% in the past year. On Vancouver's upscale West side, the average house price is now over $3.25 million and rising weekly, as frenzied bidding sees houses routinely going for as much as $1 million over asking. Seven-and eight-million-dollar teardowns are common. Much of the buying at the upper end of the scale is being done by wealthy Chinese preparing a soft landing for when they decide to finally leave the mother country. The Times ran a story last week about a Chinese businessman, still living in China, who bought his 18-year-old son-- going to school in Vancouver-- a $360,000 Lamborghini so he could drive to class in style. This is hardly unusual in the city's new reality. Vancouver is in fact no longer merely a city; it's become a commodity to be traded on an international market and, as hundreds of beautiful old houses like the ones in this story are demolished and replaced by crass megamansions, the city itself is mutating like a giant cancer cell. It's enormously distressing to watch this happen and realize that nothing can be done to stop it. Middle-and low-income people in Vancouver-- and anyone who rents-- have become an endangered species.
7
Yep, and coffee now costs more than 5 cents.
3
Oh, is the price of coffee going up by more than thirty per cent a year in your town, and is it ten times what it was a decade ago?My sympathies. I know how you must feel. Affordable housing, however, is a whole lot more important to the human condition than affordable coffee.
1
As a young person I would have loved to have bought my 1st home (or any home for that matter) in the Hamptons. Who wouldn't want to live with the beach and the ocean right out your own front door?
The San Juans could be considered the Hamptons of Seattle and consequently the housing costs are extremely high. This is due to a number factors which include limited land and limited water...... as well as the archipelagos isolation and distance from the mainland which add significantly to everyday living expenses......like food & transportation costs.
There are plenty of places in and around Washington State that are quite beautiful, accessible, & yet well within the reach of an average or even lower income person.
Not everyone can afford to live in the San Juans.........not even some "rich people".
The San Juans could be considered the Hamptons of Seattle and consequently the housing costs are extremely high. This is due to a number factors which include limited land and limited water...... as well as the archipelagos isolation and distance from the mainland which add significantly to everyday living expenses......like food & transportation costs.
There are plenty of places in and around Washington State that are quite beautiful, accessible, & yet well within the reach of an average or even lower income person.
Not everyone can afford to live in the San Juans.........not even some "rich people".
27
Yes, but what about the natives of these places who work there and keep it going? How far are they to commute to the Hamptons, the San Juans, San Francisco or New York City?
2
As a resident of the San Juans, I can confirm that a big part of the problem is that the local population is aging and people who provide services that are needed cannot afford to live here. Half of my island population (Orcas) is over 60. Many of these folks are not rich; a number of them are long time land owners from the time when the isolation of the location made it a less attractive place to live. There are fifth and sixth generation families still here. The housing bust of 2008 has forced people who probably would have moved to the mainland when they aged to stay on the island and "age in place". So it is necessary to attract and keep a local workforce and low income housing is an important part of that process.
We also suffer from a number of folks who buy the local houses and then convert them to vacation rentals that pay $2000+ a week, another reason affordable housing is in short supply.
On Orcas we have a similar housing program for low income families. It is called OPAL (Of People and Land) and it often recycles houses on the island or occasionally houses are barged in. They also build homes as well.
We also suffer from a number of folks who buy the local houses and then convert them to vacation rentals that pay $2000+ a week, another reason affordable housing is in short supply.
On Orcas we have a similar housing program for low income families. It is called OPAL (Of People and Land) and it often recycles houses on the island or occasionally houses are barged in. They also build homes as well.
11
But who would the rich folk get to bag their arugula at the market,or teach their kids,or repair their boat motors? Don't mean to sound snotty about the haves, but in every town there are people struggling to make ends meet while performing those tedious chores necessary to support other's affluent lifestyles. It would be impossible for them to commute every day. One should expect them to be able to live where they work.
3
As a former victim of the insatiable "newly relocated Out-of-Staters eating up Portland Houses at exorbitant prices" scandal I just hope that these homes in the San Juan's don't just become someones vacation rental.
I hope they can be had at affordable prices by the people who live there full-time and need them.
I hope they can be had at affordable prices by the people who live there full-time and need them.
48
The San Juan Community Home Trust provides "forever affordable" homes, the prices for which are tied to the area median income in perpetuity. Potential buyers must meet both residency and income criteria before purchasing Home Trust homes. This new development of moved homes is a "pocket community" made up of people who are the backbone of our island way of life. They work in fields which are vital to keep a thriving community humming. Teachers, healthcare workers, restaurant workers, shop clerks, artists and more. The people who buy these homes are making a commitment to stay on the island, to raise their families here and to be a part of their unique community as well as the broader island community.
98
Good to hear, Sassydaf. thanks for keying me in.
Now if you can bring some of that humanitarian common sense to Portland (stop in Seattle on way) then we can turn this ship around!
Now if you can bring some of that humanitarian common sense to Portland (stop in Seattle on way) then we can turn this ship around!
35
The Rebuilding Center in Portland has responded sensibly to the unfortunate epidemic of old home demolitions. They provide demo services, harvest everything recyclable, charge the developer a fee and then issues the developer a charity deduction.
Most of us here for any time would prefer that Portland was the sleepy midsize town we came to fifteen years ago for a genuine frisson of cool, very affordable housing, and a culture of civilized hedonism (in the very broad sense of enjoyment). Now rising RE values are creating a bonanza for an insurgent class of migrant workers distinct from the so called creative class celebrated only one decade ago. The new employees of startups founded here or moving here can be seen crowding the chic watering holes in newly-densified neighborhoods on Monday night. Money is the face of the new Portland, covered with composite shingles and Bundy Board.
Most of us here for any time would prefer that Portland was the sleepy midsize town we came to fifteen years ago for a genuine frisson of cool, very affordable housing, and a culture of civilized hedonism (in the very broad sense of enjoyment). Now rising RE values are creating a bonanza for an insurgent class of migrant workers distinct from the so called creative class celebrated only one decade ago. The new employees of startups founded here or moving here can be seen crowding the chic watering holes in newly-densified neighborhoods on Monday night. Money is the face of the new Portland, covered with composite shingles and Bundy Board.
11
As a resident of Victoria, it pains a lot of us to see these houses leave. Granted, they are modest, but even large and luxurious homes of grandees of the past are being deemed disposable and being shipped off. As has been pointed out by heritage preservation experts, putting houses on a barge is not much of a heritage management plan. Once out of its original milieu, the building's context is lost. Period landscaping is also scraped away to make room for larger new homes of modern design that rarely have the slightest regard for their situation or neighbours, human or built. So yeah, Victoria, Vancouver, and their suburbs are providing cheap/affordable housing for re-use in new locations, but at a cost to our collective history and landscape. Better than the landfill, and yet...
71
"Once out of its original milieu, the building's context is lost"
Those homes will be put to good use. Victoria is selling its soul to the devil.
Those homes will be put to good use. Victoria is selling its soul to the devil.
1
I live in a suburb of Washington, D.C., and I'm surprised to hear that the McMansion craze is alive and well in Victoria. I guess the desire of rich people for huge houses and the insatiable hunger of local governments for more highly assessed and taxable real estate is universal. However, your last sentence is quite true - your houses will continue to be lived in, perhaps for generations. Here in Maryland, they all wind up in the landfill, much to the delight of the Montgomery County government.
Doesn't sound like these houses will have any up-to-date energy efficient features to make them more comfortable and affordable to own. Would be nice if they were delivered with blown-in insulation and a ground source heat pump system for heating and cooling.
14
Air source heat pumps will work in that climate as well as or better than ground source heat pumps. Love my 6 inches of soy foam insulation.
10
Can you eat your soy foam insulation? Sounds yummy!
1
A gold rush for land happened in waves beginning in the 80's. More and more tourism has been the driving force as the fishing was shut down. Prices escalated and continue to do so.
I qualified and I was fortunate enough to be able to purchase a home from "San Juan Community Home Trust " in 2012 . I live in a 14 home cluster of new construction townhouses . We have Solar hot water and a recycle rainwater system that is the state of the art. I wash my clothes with rainwater! We share the land beneath us and have gardens intertwined between our houses. We plant fruit trees and work as a community with meetings. Our children can walk to school.
Many of these fabulous features are possible because of the GRANTS . CDBG , SHOP, CCHD. And Yes we have an enormous amount of donors who also contribute and make it possible for these houses to continue to be created for working families. We also know prior to purchase the unusual circumstance that has created this affordable community. Our houses and prices are tied to the wage index so as to stay forever affordable.
I love my home and am grateful my generous community has figured out a way to make affordable homes possible for me and my neighbors.
Congratulations Home Trust!