Article content

Is it time for elected officials to finally get serious about Metro Vancouver’s housing crisis?

Unaffordability remains at catastrophic levels. The real-estate bubble has not deflated eight months after the B.C. government applied a 15 per cent tax on foreign buyers of Metro real estate.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Douglas Todd: A smarter tax would ease Vancouver's housing crisis Back to video

The number of house sales is down, but prices are stuck at all-time highs, with condo values actually increasing. Metro Vancouver’s affordability rate, according to Demographia, remains third worst in the English-speaking world.

The stats are chilling for young families. When the ratio of real-estate prices to local earnings is three to one, a city’s housing is considered barely affordable. But Metro Vancouver’s ratio is a gut-churning 13 to one.

The insanity of today’s market is symbolized by a small, mossy house on a 33-foot lot on West 2nd in Vancouver: It’s for sale for $3 million.

Which brings us to taxation.