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[Bonded]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

That's interesting, thanks. I wonder why there's thousands of houses being built out here then in gigantic new communities.

I think Saskatchewan has its appeal and would be fine to settle in permanently but both Regina and Saskatoon are really small towns at the end of the day and there are less people looking for they lifestyle. It’s almost impossible to hire people in our rural assets and every new build is highly automated and old builds are getting retrofitted where they can.

[stampsx2]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

Yeah, new suburbs are glorified townhouses. They are jam packed in there and they call them 'detached' homes. You could touch the home next to you lol.

Maybe, but when i look at huge inner city yards all i see is lots of grass to cut every weekend. I’m not interested in that. Maybe some people enjoy pouring money in landscaping huge yards and spending hours gardening but i don’t have time for that.

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by flamesfever

That's for the people to decide, not City Hall or the developers.

The people are buying these new builds up like mad - so they are deciding. You may not like what they are deciding but I don't see new builds sitting around empty.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by stampsx2

Maybe, but when i look at huge inner city yards all i see is lots of grass to cut every weekend. I’m not interested in that. Maybe some people enjoy pouring money in landscaping huge yards and spending hours gardening but i don’t have time for that.

I've never understood why people have such a boner over big yards. Are they jogging around their little fenced pen or something? You need a patio to chill on and a chunk of yard for a trampoline or kiddy pool. Huge yards are dumb and a total time suck.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by flamesfever

That's for the people to decide, not City Hall or the developers.

Well, cities and neighbourhoods within those cities require planning, which is where City Hall comes in, and developers plan the specifics of neighbourhoods (that meet or exceed city requirements), so they both actually decide.

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by flamesfever

It's the added cars, tree and green space removal (backyards), lowering air quality, increased need for water, upgrading of sewers and water mains, insufferable parking and traffic problems, etc, that ruins the environment. Your old arguments of NIMBY-ism and racism is misleading and getting tiresome.

Proper densification actually reduces the need for cars, is more efficient, and better for the environment than detached homes. Building new suburbs requires way more infrastructure, creates more traffic, and needs more resources. From an overall environmental impact angle there is no argument that more detached houses in outlying suburbs is better. It’s like arguing giving everyone a car instead of having mass transit is better.

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee

Vancouver at near 100%!! lol

Eating's overrated.

To be fair, that's median income and the median residence, which understates the resources home buyers have for a few reasons:

1) With a ~65% home ownership rate, the median income would normally be buying near the bottom of the market rather than the median.

2) It excludes wealth (much of it real estate generated). So parents who bought decades ago are now giving their kids enough money that they can buy without the income to support the normal level of mortgage for what they're buying.

3) Income is based on the current context, whereas mortgage payments for much of the population are based on economics years ago. So anyone with existing equity from 5/10/15+ years ago is in a very different position than someone buying at current prices with no equity.

Still, I think that chart shows that as crazy as the current situation feels, it's certainly not unprecedented. And as much as people say that population growth will prevent a big correction and/or stagnation, I'm not sure that's the conclusion I'd reach based on history. Even if property prices just stagnate, income levels will tend to rise and help with affordability.

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by Sliver

I've never understood why people have such a boner over big yards. Are they jogging around their little fenced pen or something? You need a patio to chill on and a chunk of yard for a trampoline or kiddy pool. Huge yards are dumb and a total time suck.

Blame the British and other old European gentry. They wanted to prove they were so well off that they could have a large section of unproductive land that requires upkeep on their estates. Yards are one of the worst ecological things about detached houses. They basically provide zero benefit for pollinators and require a ton of inputs to maintain.

[flamesfever]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Well, cities and neighbourhoods within those cities require planning, which is where City Hall comes in, and developers plan the specifics of neighbourhoods (that meet or exceed city requirements), so they both actually decide.

It's when they start changing the rules, without proper regard for the people being affected, that I have the problem.

When a group of us in our community went down to address the Mayor and Councilmen, someone in the audience spoke up during one of the 5 minute talks, and said he witnessed half the Councillors were sleeping while the person spoke. The audience clapped.

For something as important as deciding to upzone, I firmly believe there should at least be a referendum to be able to make that decision.

[Torture]

Originally Posted by flamesfever

The main demand for housing is from the immigrants, and young people that are already here.[source needed] If you slow down or temporarily halt the flow of immigrants, you should in time be able to stabilize the demand and escalation of prices. [source needed] Then there would be less need for all the condos/apartments/duplexes/townhouses/2, 4, 6 plexes etc. that end up ruining our neighborhoods and degrading our environment.

Please explain to me how 2, 4, and 6 plexes are ruining our neighbourhoods and degrading our environment?

That's for the people to decide, not City Hall or the developers.

Remind me, I'm forgetful, who elects City Hall?

When a group of us in our community went down to address the Mayor and Councilmen [Councillors, it's not 1920], someone in the audience spoke up during one of the 5 minute talks, and said he witnessed half the Councillors were sleeping while the person spoke. The audience clapped.

Cool story bro, but were half of the Councillors actually sleeping (and just while that person spoke which is pretty impressive to be honest, I don't think I could fall asleep for just 5 minutes on demand and then wake up) or did he just say that they were to get people to clap?

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Bonded

Blame the British and other old European gentry. They wanted to prove they were so well off that they could have a large section of unproductive land that requires upkeep on their estates. Yards are one of the worst ecological things about detached houses. They basically provide zero benefit for pollinators and require a ton of inputs to maintain.

Depends what you do with it. Ours is a haven for pollinators and birds, and produces a lot of food for us, as well as being a good water absorber to reduce flooding.


Every year I replace a bit more lawn with better stuff.

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by Torture

Please explain to me how 2, 4, and 6 plexes are ruining our neighbourhoods and degrading our environment?

Lol they tried earlier in the thread but then just gave up and reverted back to NIMBY-ism. The funny thing is that I bet where ever they live would not exist if referendums were used for city planning and zoning. It is a terrible way to decide on city planning.

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Depends what you do with it. Ours is a haven for pollinators and birds, and produces a lot of food for us, as well as being a good water absorber to reduce flooding.
Every year I replace a bit more lawn with better stuff.

Yeah, should have kept it specified to lawns. You can do some pretty nice stuff by rewilding lawns and adding biodiversity but a lot of people want the boring green lawn.

[greyshep]

Originally Posted by Sliver

I've never understood why people have such a boner over big yards. Are they jogging around their little fenced pen or something? You need a patio to chill on and a chunk of yard for a trampoline or kiddy pool. Huge yards are dumb and a total time suck.

You live in Lake Bonavista right? Not exactly what I would call small yards there for the most part. Did you pave paradise and put up a parking lot?

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by flamesfever

Of course there is another way of slowing the demand for housing...just keep raising interest rates, and restricting the ability to lend money. Eventually people learn that owning a house has its pros and cons, and is not the only road to happiness.

That does not slow the demand for housing. It simply shifts the demand to slightly cheaper housing.

Originally Posted by flamesfever

It's the added cars, tree and green space removal (backyards), lowering air quality, increased need for water, upgrading of sewers and water mains, insufferable parking and traffic problems, etc, that ruins the environment. Your old arguments of NIMBY-ism and racism is misleading and getting tiresome.

No. It's the existence of humans that does that. Tiipping the scales in favour of SFHs means each human does all of those things to a greater degree.

Originally Posted by flamesfever

It's when they start changing the rules, without proper regard for the people being affected, that I have the problem.

When a group of us in our community went down to address the Mayor and Councilmen, someone in the audience spoke up during one of the 5 minute talks, and said he witnessed half the Councillors were sleeping while the person spoke. The audience clapped.

For something as important as deciding to upzone, I firmly believe there should at least be a referendum to be able to make that decision.

One of the NIMBYest posts in the history of NIMBYsm.

[you&me]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

People aren't going to build housing/condos/apartments for some possible future population. They need people here so they build them. If you pause bringing in people so the market catching up - its going to stop building at the same rate.

But this isn't a binary thing... I feel like there should be a nice middle ground between "there's zero immigration and no demand for the developers to build" and "we're at unprecedented growth due to immigration, developers can't keep up which is driving prices higher and housing is becoming unaffordable to the majority of Canadians, whether renting or buying"

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

One of the NIMBYest posts in the history of NIMBYsm.

It's bordering on Poe's law territory. They even tossed in a then everyone clapped moment.

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by you&me

But this isn't a binary thing... I feel like there should be a nice middle ground between "there's zero immigration and no demand for the developers to build" and "we're at unprecedented growth due to immigration, developers can't keep up which is driving prices higher and housing is becoming unaffordable to the majority of Canadians, whether renting or buying"

I agree - I'm pro removing a bunch of zoning rules so you can build a ton more houses. Also taxing empty buildings in the cities after some timeframe now so they get redeveloped instead of sitting empty in prime land.

Also pro building a big affordable housing building right next to flamesfever's house.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Sliver

I've never understood why people have such a boner over big yards. Are they jogging around their little fenced pen or something? You need a patio to chill on and a chunk of yard for a trampoline or kiddy pool. Huge yards are dumb and a total time suck.

To be fair, I went to a few open houses earlier this year to see what kind of ####ty houses were selling for $800-900K. I appreciate my large yard because I can't see clearly into my neighbor's windows from my window. Seeing some of the neighbors in that open house like some fishbowl or zoo exhibit just felt weird and wrong. Imagining the reverse felt worse.

New builds have addressed this ####ty design, but the lack of space to park cars on the streets because of how narrow the lawns are have their own annoying facet as well.

It's crazy to think some houses from 5 years ago are selling for $100-200K more. At 5% ish interest rate extra for 20 years, not only are they paying more to acquire, but it'll probably cost these people a few hundred K extra in interest over the life of the mortgage. I got lucky even though I was house poor for a while. But a few friends of mine are basically making do because the actual communities they want to live in, they're priced out.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by greyshep

You live in Lake Bonavista right? Not exactly what I would call small yards there for the most part. Did you pave paradise and put up a parking lot?

I think I might have the smallest yard in LB. It probably helped me get into the neighbourhood because Calgarians love their big yards so my place was priced well compared to similar properties with bigger yards. Granted, I can see why a bigger yard should command a higher price, but I don't value a big yard so my place is perfect for me.

I don't know that I'd say I paved paradise, but I do have fake grass in the back and am just finishing xeroscaping the front. No more fertilizers, pesticides, watering (other than shrubs) and no more mowing. I think maybe a net win for the enviro, although who knows with the resources it took to do the job and move supplies to my house. Either way, I'm happy and as long as people are taking cruises and flying to California for the weekend any yard work I do doesn't matter to old mother earth in the least.

[greyshep]

Originally Posted by Sliver

I think I might have the smallest yard in LB. It probably helped me get into the neighbourhood because Calgarians love their big yards so my place was priced well compared to similar properties with bigger yards. Granted, I can see why a bigger yard should command a higher price, but I don't value a big yard so my place is perfect for me.

I don't know that I'd say I paved paradise, but I do have fake grass in the back and am just finishing xeroscaping the front. No more fertilizers, pesticides, watering (other than shrubs) and no more mowing. I think maybe a net win for the enviro, although who knows with the resources it took to do the job and move supplies to my house. Either way, I'm happy and as long as people are taking cruises and flying to California for the weekend any yard work I do doesn't matter to old mother earth in the least.

Bigger yard/Bigger underground bunker though right? lol