The Straw that killed Suburbia!

The City of Calgary Increases Taxes 5.4 %!

Will the high price of oil finally force sanity on the Citizens, the Planning Department, City Council, and the Development Industry of the City of Calgary? The relentless unbridled expansion of our suburbs is a result of many unsustainable, short-sighted planning policy decisions fuelled by cheap oil. Who now can afford the lifestyle of the 2000 square foot double garage home miles away from work, shopping or schools?

The answer is fewer people, with many more demanding affordable housing closer to public transportation. Unfortunately for Calgary, we have too little of this kind of housing. The current real estate downturn might just give us our first clue. Of the current 6,860 single family listings, 50% are 13 years old or newer and 47% of all listings are in far away suburban areas. Shockingly, over 67% of all single-family listings are priced over the median selling price of $420,000. At 100% financing, a $420,000 house purchase requires a qualifying income of $100,000.We have too much, too expensive, and too big houses in too far away places.

To the credit of city planners, builders and developers, they have been trying for years to create better and more affordable housing options only to be blocked by short-sighted policy decisions pandering to the NIMBYS ( Not in my Back Yard ). The new land use bylaw does very little to address this issue, all the newer, more innovative, higher density housing is allowed on the outskirts of the city, exactly the least preferable place for infrastructure cost efficiencies.

Developers and builders can only build what they are allowed to do or not at all if it is unprofitable. Yet people need housing, and this city needs workers and future taxpayers to support long term growth, otherwise we are doomed to become the Middle East of Canada, with temporary jobs, housing and lives.

If Citizens continue to block basement suites, granny suites, townhouses and low rise units in their areas, consider the unintended consequences; higher property taxes for more and longer roads, sewers, buses, police cars and garbage trucks. We may have reached a tolerance threshold for property tax increases that will limit our capacity to fund much more suburban growth.

I have been thinking a lot about absolute and relative measurements recently and am struck by how the Irish government has found to blend them in their definition of poverty.
The official Government approved poverty measure used in Ireland is consistent poverty, developed independently by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI). This measure identifies the proportion of people, from those with an income below a certain threshold (less than 60% of median income), who are deprived of two or more goods or services considered essential for a basic standard of living from the following 11-item index:

1. Two pairs of strong shoes

2. A warm waterproof overcoat

3. Buy new not second-hand clothes

4. Eat meals with meat, chicken, fish (or vegetarian equivalent) every second day

5. Have a roast joint or its equivalent once a week

6. Had to go without heating during the last year through lack of money

7. Keep the home adequately warm

8. Buy presents for family or friends at least once a year

9. Replace any worn out furniture

10. Have family or friends for a drink or meal once a month

11. Have a morning, afternoon or evening out in the last fortnight, for entertainment

I think this type of measurment might allow us more room for agreement on the definition of poverty in Calgary and might lead to a way of discussing issues from a less partisan position.