Vancouver: The Last Hope

This is somewhat funny:

If you've got an idea of how to make housing more affordable in Vancouver, city officials say they're all ears.

"I think we're almost at the desperation stage," said Randy Pecarski, the City of Vancouver's deputy director of planning. "People are on the verge of leaving the city because they can't find a place to stay."

More:

The city's goal is to create the types of homes in Vancouver needed to keep people like Sabine Bruyere living here.

She was born and raised in Vancouver, lives at home with her mother and works a minimum wage job.

What's funny about this?

Canada has an area of 9.985 million km². Vancouver? 115 km².

Hundreds of thousands of people want to live in the 0.001% part of Canada and then they're shocked when real estate prices skyrocket! Now, this doesn't mean that people should live in the middle of nowhere, Yukon. But seriously, are you going to die of some wasting disease if you don't live in or near Vancouver?

I've seen the same madness in Ontario. I know a woman who lives in Toronto and commutes to Hamilton everyday. That's a 90-minute drive one way. This gal burns 15 hours a week just driving back and forth. She says that Toronto is awesome and she doesn't want to live in Hamilton. So, she bought a house in Toronto.

It would have been economical to live near Hamilton (close to work; save time, money and fuel!) and then enjoy the awesomeness of Toronto during the weekend. Besides, why do people want to live like sardines in a can?

Anyway, back to Vancouver fever:

"Essentially I have no real hope for the future here," she said at the housing conference. "It's wrong and I'm totally frustrated."

Such is life for a pampered millennial.