Scot asks, “How long until we see something like this in Vancouver?”
LONDON — People who’ve reluctantly left London have been sharing their reasons for making the move via giant digital billboards. This is the opposite of leaving quietly and it’s probably just what the city needs to see.
The London is Changing project has been calling on people to submit their reasons for moving away from London. It’s also sought reasons for why people are moving to the city, but so far those submitting stories are mostly leaving. A selection of the anonymous stories are then posted on large digital billboards in Holborn and Aldgate.
The goal of the project, which will run throughout 2015, is to “facilitate discussion about the impact of economic and policy changes on the culture and diversity of London”.
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Lots more here.
Awesome.
Sounds like Vancouver. The only difference is that London attracts mainly Middke East and Russian money while Vancouver is predominantly Asian.
Another form of ” cultural genocide “, really.
In the years to come you can attend the annual White Party with a bunch of Chinese zombie billionaires, you’ll love it!!
I did last year. Not as Chinese as you may think, Ron. Loads of Caucasians, many in their 20’s and 30’s.
Talking about the future because it’s coming
I do fear that the time when young people leave either in disgust or inability to prosper here – for a variety of converging reasons – may be coming.
Frank – My personal experience in the last 3 months:
-My friend is being evicted from his basement suite in Strathcona because the owners of the house are remodeling and listing it permanently on Air B&B, they can get even more money from tourists.
-Another couple, a creative artist team, packed it in and left this weekend for Cumberland on Vancouver Island, they were looking for a more affordable creative setting.
This is just from my friends network, others report the same. This has been accelerating in the last 6 months.
When renting residential units via VRBO or AirBnB it needs to be zoned commercial and taxed accordingly. Who is enforcing that ? I guess no one is ?
Good Point, not sure.
Not sure commercial zoning is needed for airbnb as it’s possible to run a B&B in residential areas. In some cities airbnb charges a fee on behalf on city – same as hotel tax.
Why so much fuss by the Mayor about Uber .. but nothing on AirBnB or VRBO ? They are both disrupting technologies. Could it be because the taxi union or cab owner association pays towards his re-election fund yet renters are less organized ?
What is Vision’s or the NDP’s or NPA’s view here to balance demand of renters with those of tourists and landlords ?
Sadly I agree that if you changed the city name and put any one of those billboards up here it would be 100% accurate.
The ironic thing about Vancouver…
Get a such a reputation for being liveable that it becomes expensive enough to be unliveable for most.
Copenhagen, Vienna, Zurich, Stockholm are all very high on the livability rankings yet are nowhere to be found on the nose bleed rankings of un-affordability because they don’t sell their souls to the Chinese like we do.
Zurich real estate is more expensive than Vancouver’s. Average income is higher than Vancouver, but for normal to low income earners it’s less affordable than Vancouver.
http://www.numbeo.com/property-investment/city_result.jsp?country=Switzerland&city=Zurich&displayCurrency=CAD