For the decade plus that I have lived in Canada, the term ‘housing crisis’ has been in the news. Too many people. Not enough housing.
Canada has about a tenth of the US population. Roughly 35-40 million are scattered across the second largest country in the world. And 90% of those live within 100 miles of the US border, for mostly obvious reasons. That seems as absurd as it sounds. But the majority of that land mass is uninhabitable with lack of infrastructure and lack of tax base to create that infrastructure.
In hopes of building up that tax base, Canada has a wide open door to immigrants worldwide. Thus the new immigrant population fuels the ill housing problem. A vicious cycle.
When my family immigrated to Canada 13 years ago, housing wasn’t too big of an issue for us. Thankfully, this was due to choosing to live in a small community, where the resources are welcoming to population boosting.
And…we arrived with a few resources ourselves. Like having local in-laws who could co-sign a mortgage as we had zero credit in the new country. That’s the summer I learned: stellar credit in one country isn’t recognized in another.
My recent trip to Vancouver exposed me to the massive homeless population within Canada. Of course, that city’s social ills reflect its carelessness in some recent closures of mental facilities. Plus Vancouver has a hospitable year-round climate, mostly above freezing. Thus, a homeless Mecca of Canada.
All of this seems ironic with the numerous empty structures and abandoned houses that my weekend biking partner Pete and I stumble across.
I wouldn’t at all suggest that the homeless population of Vancouver or new immigrants at Toronto International Airport be bussed to the Saskatchewan prairies. Dwelling in disintegrated buildings located miles away from all resources? Absurd indeed.
Besides, at least 90-95% of the houses that Pete and I find are unliveable. What builders create in a short period can be destroyed by nature within 5-10 years, if left unattended.
The absence of interior heat, plus the 80 degree (+40C to -40C) range and other weather elements within a 12 month period creates enough expansion and contraction of materials, causing structural chaos.
But still.
Many of these houses show clear evidence of being “walked away” from when they were quite livable.
The abandoned houses on Saskatchewan prairies are a reflection of a wasteful and disposable society.
Lack, surrounded by abundance.
I don’t quite know what the answer is to the problem.