I keep telling people baffled at the apparent inaction that two thirds of Canadian households own properties. If such a large majority of voters own properties, is it any surprise that no significant action that would hurt them is taken? Rather, things work as intended and non-owners are squeezed more than they used to be several years ago.
People don’t seem to really care about their kids/grandkids being unable to afford housing. Or, at least, they care less about that than the value of their property continuing to rise fast enough to fund their retirement. Or, maybe, they have enough cash that they can help their own kids, so fuck everyone else, right?
I really think this is about generation divides in wealth; those who have parents able to front them 100K+ to put toward a down payment can get into the market and two the rewards of intergenernational wealth; those who don’t are likely doomed to a life of housing insecurity.
My kiddos are young, but my wife and I are trying to ensure we’ll have enough extra cash to help our kids but they’re first homes. It’s the only way they’ll be able to afford to live close to us.
People don’t seem to really care about their kids/grandkids being unable to afford housing.
Well, that’s because affordability is about the same. Granted, that is because the youth have much cheaper lives than we did. In my day we had to spend $20 to see a movie. The kids these days can watch all the movies for $20. To listen to a song you had to pay $20 too. Today you can listen to any song ever made for free. We dropped $100 a night at the bar. They flip through Tinder. We had to buy $20,000 cars to get anywhere, and let’s not even talk about the costs that followed. They toss a few bucks at transit and move around to their heart’s content.
There is concern for whether or not they are missing out on their lives because of that. Going to the movies, for example, brought more than just a movie. It was a social adventure. Staying home to watch Netflix is not the same. But it’s also hard to judge if that is actually something to be concerned about, or if it’s just us trying to re-live our youth? Is one life actually better than the other?
I keep telling people baffled at the apparent inaction that two thirds of Canadian households own properties. If such a large majority of voters own properties, is it any surprise that no significant action that would hurt them is taken? Rather, things work as intended and non-owners are squeezed more than they used to be several years ago.
People don’t seem to really care about their kids/grandkids being unable to afford housing. Or, at least, they care less about that than the value of their property continuing to rise fast enough to fund their retirement. Or, maybe, they have enough cash that they can help their own kids, so fuck everyone else, right?
I really think this is about generation divides in wealth; those who have parents able to front them 100K+ to put toward a down payment can get into the market and two the rewards of intergenernational wealth; those who don’t are likely doomed to a life of housing insecurity.
My kiddos are young, but my wife and I are trying to ensure we’ll have enough extra cash to help our kids but they’re first homes. It’s the only way they’ll be able to afford to live close to us.
It’s too abstract. They can’t mentally connect their own economic success with everyone else’s harm.
Well, that’s because affordability is about the same. Granted, that is because the youth have much cheaper lives than we did. In my day we had to spend $20 to see a movie. The kids these days can watch all the movies for $20. To listen to a song you had to pay $20 too. Today you can listen to any song ever made for free. We dropped $100 a night at the bar. They flip through Tinder. We had to buy $20,000 cars to get anywhere, and let’s not even talk about the costs that followed. They toss a few bucks at transit and move around to their heart’s content.
There is concern for whether or not they are missing out on their lives because of that. Going to the movies, for example, brought more than just a movie. It was a social adventure. Staying home to watch Netflix is not the same. But it’s also hard to judge if that is actually something to be concerned about, or if it’s just us trying to re-live our youth? Is one life actually better than the other?