Why I can't go home again.
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| Downtown Toronto |
There's been a little talk from time to time about the horrific housing crisis in Canada. There are also dozens upon dozens of idiotic ideas to solve it as long as it makes the politicians proposing those solutions look good (vote wise) and is profitable for the builders/developers. We've all seen the 10 to 20 year plans to build a gazillion new housing units that will serve the next generation but not the people who need decent housing now. Personally, I'll be dead before any of that public relations blathering comes to fruition.
Other than me being dead, the other problem is these awesome plans need to survive 3, 4 or 5 election cycles and if history tells us anything, those plans will not survive. And when an incoming government cancels those plans the only 'winners' will be those in the development world who will get huge cancellation payouts for not building the units they were contracted to build.
About 5 years ago that careless inhuman market broke me.
At the time I had grown tired, finally, of the long haul flights back and forth to Asia so I could maintain a lifestyle there and in Canada. The back and forth traveling was an exercise in 'obeying' the 183 day rule so I would be considered a Canadian by Revenue Canada. So I decided to sit still and try to find a place to live. I was in Victoria BC at the time. I had found a long stay hotel that, at one time, was the best deal in town. I lived in a tiny bachelor/studio type room (22 sqm) with a micro fridge, a two burner cooktop and all the other basic needs for <$800 a month, all in. Over a space of two years the rental rate rose to $1,100 a month. It was a hotel, The Red Lion on Douglas St near the Uptown Plaza. It was/is not a normal residence so they can raise prices to whatever they want.
It's just business.
That hotel was, when the costs were inline with my lifestyle, perfect for my uses. I could leave for 6 months, stash my stuff in storage there, come back and move into the same room I had been staying in for nearly 4 years. Hell, my stuff would be waiting for me in my room on both ends, Victoria and Chiang Mai where I had a similar situation. Good deal for me all around. But when the costs skyrocketed in Victoria, and I searched the market for an alternative, to my disappointment, all the long stay hotels had decided they'd sooner have their rooms empty for a predictable length of time and maximize their profits that way. They also wouldn't have to put up with us international transients. The 'Red Lion' hotel was good for me.
Again, it's just business.
The costs in my offshore life, Thailand, were significantly lower than Victoria. There I paid about 1/4 the cost in rent and utilities. The rest of the cost of living is surprisingly similar, except for restaurants which can be ridiculously cheap. Now that my yearly cost of living, due to the increase in long stay hotels, had gone stratospheric and now exceeded my income I had to make a choice. Stay in Canada or stay in Thailand. Since I could not afford to buy health insurance combined with the stress filled retirement extension renewal to stay in Thailand every year, I decided to remain in Victoria.
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| Victoria Inner Harbour |
Staying in Victoria would solve some of my issues. I never really liked Victoria. There are some nice parks here and there but it is an art deprived city that's built around the car and a transit system that will get people downtown and back to the 'burbs as quickly as possible. There is, however, one oasis, and that oasis is James Bay. Beautiful neighbourhood. So I spent an inordinate amount of time studying the area seeking a balance between space, view and cost. I found two that fit well enough and landlords who were willing to rent to me. I had a couple of good personal references and a credit score of 750+. Although the rent approached 55% of my income, the fact I “would” qualify for BC's SAFER program after being there for 12 consecutive months lowered that to 48%, I am not a smoker and I rarely drink or hangout in bars anymore, so it was a high but livable ratio. After nearly a decade traipsing around Asia. I'd grown tired of it all. I decided I would be happier at home in Canada watching a movie with a bowl of popcorn. Even though my home budget would balance with 48% of my income being taken from of me and the system by property owners I could have a good life on the way off this mortal coil...ahem.
Anyway, like the idiot I can be at times, I turned down both apartment offers due to my first priority in an apartment – the view. A view is something my brain uses to decide if I'm okay or not. With a view that makes me sigh, I feel okay. Both apartments I turned down were low floors that overlooked a parking lot and a dumpster. I kept looking. I spent over a year looking for the 'right' place. The Red Lion was becoming more expensive and management less helpful, they didn't want us long stays there anymore. In the meantime I qualified for SAFER so my income was carved in stone and was as high/low as it was going to get. Although one of the greeters at Walmart kept trying to make me take a job application. I think she was sweet on me.
Then the aforementioned heartbreak arose. After this long year of not going to Thailand and living in a postage stamp sized room at the Red Lion I found the perfect place. It was a small bachelor apartment on a high floor (my memory tells me the 13th floor???) overlooking over Victoria harbour. Perfect! It was $950 CAD a month which was, at the time, close to 50% of my net income. A little high but based on my well managed personal budget that was okay. My application for the apartment included a printed copy of my budgeted life to the prospective landlord - Itziar Management. It was an identical application to the others I had submitted which were accepted (but like a nit-picking fool I rejected) based on my references, credit score and guaranteed income. The rental agent I spoke to at Itziar Management said it looked good and she'd let me know within 24 hrs. The next day I got an email that said “Your application has not been approved. Have a good day.” I asked why? I did not receive an answer. I could only guess that a manager who does not see human beings behind applications used a numeric scale, a policy handbook, and rejected me.
It's just business.
I was devastated. After nearly 15 months of searching I had found my “home.” I had been, by choice, “on the road” getting my head together for 6 years after my time in Afghanistan by traipsing around Asia, going from there to there to there and back again. Finally, I was going “home.” But one decision by some suit (a snide cheap shot I know, but I need an outlet) at a desk, snatched it away. So I said screw this. I spent the next month making arrangements to move to Thailand.
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| The View |
I went there, found a rental condo with one of the most fantastic views you can find anywhere that would cost me $330 CAD a month. I hired an agent who converted my Tourist Visa to an “O” visa and added the coveted “Retirement Extension” to that. I returned to Canada to complete the 183 day rule and told Service Canada what I was doing. Everything would be within rules, in Canada at least. By November of 2019 I was flying out of Victoria airport with my middle finger raised in defiance and anger. I had lost my home, it was gone, permanently. I had become the 17 year old hippie I was long ago, leaving home and abusive parents behind for a second time. It was dé·jà vu all over again.
I'm older now than I was then. I'm finally beginning to want what most of you have, a feeling of stability and safety. I know the anti-vax dimwits have significantly damaged Canada's safety and the police are impotent behind cowardly politicians, but it's still more stable than where I am now. So I tentatively decided to try Canada again. I've looked at rental costs and I'm thoroughly disgusted by the greed of the owners and the carelessness of governments who've allowed those greedy bastards free reign over the lives of others for their excessive profits.
I've examined (cursory level at this point) provincial programs that help low incomers like me. I examined (cursory level at this point) federal programs that help low incomers like me. And found them both wanting, and when I say wanting, I mean next to useless. BC has been fairly generous with SAFER but it has not grown along with the meteoric rise in rents over the last ten years, an expensive increase government allowed and even fostered. Although BC signed a deal with the feds for a portable housing subsidy, I can't find a word on it and see no changes in SAFER. Their residence requirements are harsh. Ontario on the other hand is one of the most convoluted opaque systems I've ever seen. If there is a more opaque government program anywhere I would not like to see it. Ontario has 47 “Managers” controlling public housing and now the $1.4B the feds gave them. The decisions on who gets what are made 'if' you qualify for or are on or are about to be on or might maybe be approved to be on their 'waiting list' and you'll be told what's what by mail whenever they get around to it as long as they don't run out of money first. Every step you take is made in a thick fog as they try to weed out the scammers from us slathering sleazy low incomers.
It's just politics.
So there you have it. Rental costs are way out of my price range. New provincial programs are shrouded in mystery while the existing ones are woefully inadequate. The Federal housing programs are being handed over to Premiers who see that money as their way to re-election, not for human use.
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| Art College and Art Gallery |
In the end, I'm screwed. Government programs do not place the humans they are supposed to help at the front of the line. Lobbyists, party policy, bankers, taxpayer orgs, real estate holders, investors, builders, developers, political donors, self-interested non-profit activist orgs, politicians looking to build personal legacies, automaton decision makers, NIMBYs, and all the “Why should I pay for them” selfish cretins everywhere are at the front of the line. Not to mention the interference by governmental economic committees at both provincial and federal levels chaired by people who need to score points against the opposition, public opinions as opined by self-serving op-ed columnists, capitalists who see any help offered to anyone in any form as a commie plot, and social media denizens who just want to yell at people.
We, us low incomers, are at the bottom of all of the lists. I was once told, when I asked where I stood on a geared to income housing list, that I should be happy that I was on the 3rd tier of a 4 tiered list because, after all, I wasn't on the 4th tier.
As the rules here in Thailand change there will come a time I'll no longer be welcome, not enough income. I can't live in Canada because I don't have enough money to live there either. I'm old and getting tired.
So, I guess I can't go home and I won't be able to stay here.
What's left for me to do?
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