Time to loosen zoning restrictions and say no to NIMBYs Ms. Mayor. *

Despite earning around $90,000 a year between her work as mayor, regional councillor and with the local electric utility, she says she can’t afford to buy a home in the municipality she leads.

* yeah, she’s still paying off student loans, and I don’t know what zoning restrictions are like in her community. But still.

  • BedSharkPal@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Now what happens when teachers, nurses etc can’t afford it either.

    Home owners loving those paper gains and won’t realize it destroys the social fabric of their communities until it’s too late.

    • sbvOP
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      1 year ago

      Home owners loving those paper gains and won’t realize it destroys the social fabric of their communities until it’s too late.

      Most home owners I know either

      1. Don’t want the gains, because they can’t afford to buy a nicer place even if they sell their current place.

      2. Are unhappy about growing mortgage payments.

      3. Are worried about their kids being able to afford a place.

      The gains only benefit people who can cash out and move away. Most homeowners (I know) wouldn’t want to borrow against the house value because repayment is so expensive.

      • EhForumUser@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        That is true. The value of my home doesn’t mean much to me. If it is worth $1 tomorrow, oh well? Who cares?

        But it is troubling to think what will happen when most other homeowners are underwater and their debt gets called. That is going to hurt all of us.

        • cyberpunk007@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Yeah homes being viewed as an investment is stupid and only came to be for those that could afford to buy lots.

          • EhForumUser@lemmy.ca
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            1 year ago

            Homes became an investment when living near your workplace became a necessity. Any tool which facilities an income is going to naturally become an investment. That’s what investment is.

            The COVID thing decoupling some jobs from location has helped marginally – seeing a small decline in home values (although perhaps moving it to places where jobs were previously less commonly found) – but that can only get you so far. The vast majority of income sources are still location dependent.

        • Shard@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I might actually be happy if my home was suddenly only worth a dollar.

          That would cut my property tax way down

        • sbvOP
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          1 year ago

          HELOCs may burn some folks. They were gaining popularity while interest was low. That is going to add to the burden of those who loaded up on debt.

      • yiliu@informis.land
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        1 year ago
        1. Still don’t support re-zoning their area to allow denser mixed-use housing (in my experience).
      • BedSharkPal@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        Well someone should tell them to vote that way. There’s a reason no party other than the greens will even dare speak of the fact that prices need to come down to increase affordability.

        • sbvOP
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          1 year ago

          I’m guessing the next federal election will be on pocketbook issues. I don’t know where home ownership will fit in there.

    • ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      That isn’t as bad as when minimum wage earners won’t be able to rent

      Teachers and nurses make enough to warrant a commute and they have skilled jobs (required off site learning), a minimum wage earner can just go anywhere with and not only earn as much but also has way more job flexibility

      Also Ontario already pays private nurses double (though it costs the province way more than that because of the ‘Ford friend fee’ I mean agency fee

  • wozomo@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Who you calling a NIMBY? Did you even read the article you posted?

    Salonen supports last month’s announcement to build 10,000 affordable and attainable homes in the region by 2030.

    She’s quite literally the opposite of a NIMBY.

      • wozomo@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Yeah, seems like the poster didn’t read the actual article, either

      • Rodeo@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        That’s a project from Habitat for Humanity.

        Vocalizing support for someone else’s project is a far cry from starting your own projects.

        Maybe she is doing something, I don’t know, but the example you gave isn’t a good one.

      • Dearche@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        Pretty much every city in the country needs like ten times that much before things’ll start getting better.

        All these proposals are like trying to fight a forest fire with a squirt gun.