Vancouver needs more than a high value property surtax to be affordable for all

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It’s no secret among young adults, especially students, that finding a place of your own in Vancouver is incredibly hard.

For starters, most of the good apartments — the ones close to transit, with a proper oven, laundry in the building, and rent that includes basic utilities — can be insanely expensive. The places that are affordable and available on Craigslist or Facebook can be … questionable, at best, with listings that would raise a few eyebrows, if not the hairs on the back of your neck. And groups like Generation Squeeze know it.

For those that haven’t been following along, Generation Squeeze is a group based in Vancouver dedicated to advocating for better affordability for young people across Canada. In that vein, they’ve recently released a report suggesting the federal government apply a surtax on homes valued at over $1 million. 

According to the report, this means that only the top 10 per cent of the most valuable homes in Canada would be subject to the surtax. 

In 2018, the NDP government here in British Columbia introduced a higher property tax for homes valued at over $2 million, as well as a vacancy and speculation tax — both of which were similarly designed to address the housing crisis here in Metro Vancouver. 

Unsurprisingly, the most vocal opposition to both measures has come from those wealthy enough to own some of these higher-value homes. In the case of the BC NDP’s housing taxes, they’ve been in effect for nearly four years and have been effective in slightly slowing down the market, with housing prices in B.C. rising at slower rates than other provinces, such as Ontario. 

So on an incremental level, a measure like the one Generation Squeeze is suggesting could have positive effects. However, there are other suggested measures that should be put in place that would arguably be stronger when it comes to improving affordability for everyone.

Take the suggestions put forward by the Vancouver Tenants Union, for instance. An organization committed to empowering renters in Vancouver and informing them on their rights, the VTU advocates for some key measures to make housing more affordable for people from all walks of life. 

One such measure is rent control, which would tie rent to the unit rather than the tenant so that landlords cannot hike up the rent if a tenant were to move. As someone who has seen folks put up certain types of units and asked for rent prices that can only be described as delusional, this seems like a reasonable solution to an unreasonable problem. The VTU also advocates for eviction protections, more affordable housing, and better incomes — overall, some well-rounded solutions that benefit the folks who have to pay a monthly rental rate to live here.

That’s not to say that the surtax proposed by Generation Squeeze would be ineffective. In fact, if the measures enacted by the provincial government are anything to go by, such a surtax could be effective at further slowing down the current market. But unless that surtax is accompanied by measures designed to protect the rights of renters, owning your own home may continue to be a pipe dream for millions of students in Vancouver and across Canada.