Lack of housing in Metro Vancouver makes us all poorer.

Prices reflect scarcity. When we don't have enough housing, rents are high.

First-time homebuyers struggle to save a down payment and then pay the mortgage.

Even if you're a long-time homeowner, you don't benefit from the inflated price of your home unless you sell, and then where are you supposed to live?

We have a mismatch between jobs and housing. People move where the jobs are. We're adding new jobs much faster than we're building new housing.

Housing is like a ladder. When people arrive to fill jobs and there isn't enough housing to go around, people lower on the ladder get pushed down further. Near the bottom, people are forced to leave, to crowd into substandard housing, or worst of all, end up homeless.

To fix this, we need to build more housing, and we need to build it faster.

Of course it's not enough to just build housing. Building communities also requires public services.

For a more authoritative discussion, see the MacPhail Report on housing supply and affordability in BC.