Comment 114649

By kevlahan (registered) | Posted November 05, 2015 at 12:08:39 in reply to Comment 114643

Affordable is relative to what prices actually are in Hamilton as a whole, which is what we want if the goal is to have mixed incomes. Maybe you mean affordable to people currently unable to afford a house anywhere. The average house price in Hamilton is now $433k. As you suggest, affordable in absolute terms is different from affordable compared to current options.

But you seem to have missed the whole point of the article: for downtown to achieve "mixed income" actually means attracting middle and upper income residents while not driving out low income residents. We will have achieved mixed income when the income mix is similar to the city as a whole: 80% middle and upper income and 20% lower income. The developments I mentioned are certainly attracting the missing demographic! The (future) danger is that we might lose lower income, but that is still a pretty distant scenario for downtown and lower city. Do you seriously imagine that we are currently in danger of seeing fewer than 15-20% lower income in downtown and the lower city?

It is important not to claim that a condo is not affordable because it is more expensive "for what you get" (e.g. number of bedrooms) compared to a house. That's about preference, not affordability. A family of four can live quite comfortably in a two bedroom apartment, if they prefer an urban lifestyle and the neighbourhood offers good urban amenities.

$261k is affordable by that standard for people who don't want a house and are happy with a condo. The idea that everyone should prefer a detached house is just not reality. Many people, given a choice, are actually choosing a smaller condo over a large detached house.

With an average household size in Hamilton of just 2.5, and the fact that 60% of households are 1 or 2 people, there are many many people for whom a one bedroom apartment or condo is perfectly reasonable choice. I lived in a 2 bedroom 80 m^2 apartment with my partner and two small children for almost a year and it was just fine. Giving people the choice of between a $433k house and a $261k condo downtown is giving them an affordable choice for a different lifestyle (note that even the smallest 52 m^2 condo has a separate bedroom it is not a studio).

And the bottom line is that we need to start demanding new policies geared to income units in larger developments. But we are certainly not at the stage where the handful of new developments, after decades of nothing, should be opposed on those grounds. And several of the new developments are actually rental buildings!

Comment edited by kevlahan on 2015-11-05 13:23:53

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