Category Archives: Housing
BC exempts vacation homes from speculation tax
By Drew Penner The bureaucrats have done their tinkering and the new-and-improved levy on people taking advantage of hot West Coast real estate has been unfurled. BC Finance Minister Carole James said despite revising speculation tax rules to exclude a
Unable to afford rent, some Vancouver seniors choosing to take their own lives rather than become homeless, advocate says
By Lisa Tanh More seniors are being pushed into homelessness because they can’t afford the city’s high cost of living or find a safe shelter, says the head of a seniors’ non-profit organization. Anthony Kupferschmidt, executive director of the West
Vancouver father battles Airbnb, questions city’s plan to pour $46 million into building affordable housing while doing little to crack down on short term rentals
By Drew Penner Brette Mullins is a father who’s had to look at switching jobs in order to provide better housing for his family. And then there are the menacing attacks. “I get threatening emails once and awhile,” he said,
Housing eviction a pathway to drug use, Vancouver-based study finds
By Marina Wang Vancouver’s housing crisis may also be fuelling the city’s drug epidemic, according to a new peer reviewed study by a group of Vancouver-based researchers. A longitudinal study published earlier this year found that housing eviction had a
Vancouver police not keen to crack down on Airbnb pop-up brothels
By Drew Penner For those of us raised on school films that took us through skid row, and fictional mayor Dominic Da Vinci’s introduction of a red-light district on CBC, we realize Vancouver’s a city with unique problems requiring innovative
Massive commercial operators continue to run illegal Airbnb hotels in Vancouver despite City of Vancouver’s “crack down”
Suite Living, who claim to be one of the largest furnished rental companies in Vancouver, has been promoting multiple STRs in Vancouver and Richmond through their website and Airbnb. Currently, it remains illegal to run STRs for less than 30
Realtors question legality of new taxes as foreign buyers exit cooling Vancouver housing market giving locals hope
By Drew Penner Within real estate circles, the effect of new taxes aimed at foreign buyers cashing in on Vancouver’s superheated housing market has been palpable. Shawn Anderson, a realtor with Engel & Völkers Vancouver, says the change has been
Vancouver vigilante tells illegal Airbnb operators to stop being “social parasites,” gets results
By ThinkPol Staff A Vancouver vigilante who sends private messages to illegal Airbnb operators in the city asking them to stop being “social parasites” has convinced at least one such host to put a unit back on the long term
Nearly 3 in 4 Vancouver houses sold for below asking in February
By ThinkPol Staff Nearly three in four Vancouver detached houses sold for less than the asking in February, with over half going for below assessment, MLS sales data show. The MLS sales data, jealously guarded by the real estate industry,
Hong Kong tycoon linked to offshore tax havens flipping $18M Vancouver house through shell company
By ThinkPol Staff A Hong Kong property tycoon known as the “King of Shell Companies,” whose name appears in the Offshore Leaks database of tax haven clients, is trying to sell a house in Vancouver Westside for $18.88 million after
