Tuesday June 11, 2024 | VICTORIA, BC
Socioeconomic & political analysis by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
“Is BC the place to be?” is how an Angus Reid Institute survey report opened in their June 10, 2024 release.
And continued: “Amid affordability woes, one-in-three residents “seriously” consider leaving the province.”
For clarification, the disgruntled group of people in British Columbia are men and women in their middle-age working years (age 35 to 54), and more so if they have children.
Angus Reid muses that perhaps older Canadians are not as concerned about the cost of housing because they’ve paid off their home mortgages.
Family ties:
But they may have missed the point that “there’s no place like home”. Relocating primarily for financial reasons seems not so wise or appealing for people who are parents or grandparents to their families or for business people whose networking is entrenched in local regions.
In this context, the heading “Is BC the place to be? Amid affordability woes, one-in-three residents “seriously” consider leaving the province” makes it sound on first blush that one-third of the population is perhaps up and packing. But frustration is not the same as considering all the practicalities, the impact on families, and the role of local community.
Sensationalizing:
Indeed, the sensationalism of the survey headline and introductory wording has raised attention to the cost of housing impact on families.
But there are few people in BC who are surprised about housing being unaffordable.
BC NDP housing not doing enough?:
Meanwhile, the Angus Reid report says “the BC NDP is not focussing enough on addressing their own housing needs”. After about 18 months of housing legislation rollout that has set housing market transformation on its ear, it’s difficult to understand the Angus Reid conclusion,. They drill down on the idea of the current government not investing enough in housing.
Angus Reid politically leans right. We are in an election season where — according to nearly all polls — the left-leaning NDP is likely the forerunner for the October 19, 2024 election results.
https://angusreid.org/bc-investment-migration-housing/Top issues:
The survey of 1,203 respondents did identify the top issues of concerns for British Columbians as cost of living/inflation (66%), health care (52%), and housing affordability (44%). Issues of a more situational nature saw less concern: environment/climate change (23%) and street crime/public safety (23%).
Population notes:
Several times in recent weeks, Premier David Eby has noted that BC is seeing 10,000 new residents every 37 days. In the two years 2022 and 2023 there was a population increase of over 250,000 people in BC.
Naturally this will impact the availability of housing and push up housing costs and rent levels.
In 2023, the province lost 8,000 more residents to other provinces than it gained, an inter-provincial net loss not seen in B.C. since 2012.
