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One cannot open a newspaper in Vancouver without seeing an article about the housing market and the lack of affordable housing, including complaints about the influx of foreign money, unoccupied apartments, profiteering by ruthless developers, unethical behaviour on the part of brokers, and the lack of government action. In Vancouver, many of these are real issues that are doubtless affecting the real estate market, and often negatively. Addressing these complaints, however, will not produce “affordable housing” and very little is written about why we need it in Vancouver and how we can provide “affordable housing.”

There is no magic bullet.

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If affordable housing is not available in the market place then it must be provided through government subsidy, either subsidizing the buyer or subsidizing the seller. All the legislation aimed at regulation of the real estate industry, taxing foreign ownership and vacant apartments, won’t produce affordable housing but it does help produce money for the government’s coffers and those monies could, if earmarked to do so, contribute to providing some of the funds needed for the production of affordable housing.