I’m not normally one to jump on the sentimentality bandwagon that marks the end of the calendar year, but the season for reflection is coinciding with some big changes in my life that have me looking backward — and forward — with a sharper focus.
It’s been just about two years since I joined the Courier as a columnist with the aim of adding a millennial perspective to the public conversation around issues affecting our city. From work to romance to transportation, I had intended to cover the gamut of ways younger folks interact with and participate in our communities. But just a few months in, one issue emerged to define my columns just as it would dominate the entire media landscape. Dare I say it again: housing affordability.
While high rents and a lack of quality housing stock had long been a lamentable fact of life in Vancouver, I didn’t adopt affordability as my cause célèbre in reaction to the astronomical price tags attached to single-family homes. It was a response to the callous way talk about our run-away real estate market seemed to go hand-in-hand with casually demeaning the experiences of those most affected by it.
I jumped into the fray with my column, “Is It Time to Leave Vancouver?,” in which I took issue with the then-common refrain from public figures that if young people didn’t have a million bucks to drop on a starter home they should just do as their parents did before them and decamp for the suburbs — or head for another region altogether. Forget the fact that the suburbs are also prohibitively expensive, or that a city that markets itself as “world-class” might need young people to work in restaurants, build new businesses, care for an aging population, raise the next generation of taxpayers and contribute to its cultural landscape.
I was sick of the way contributions that non-boomers make to this city were largely ignored while our concerns about it were simultaneously dismissed as the whining of an entitled generation. I had no interest in living in a city where thought leaders would rather recycle tired stereotypes and show anyone under 40 the door than engage with us to tackle a very real, very complicated problem. It was the lack of will to create an inclusive community, not lack of cash for a down payment, that had me seriously considering a move.
Ironically, it was the response to my column that inspired me to stay. In my relatively short time writing for the Courier, I have personally heard from dozens of readers, of every age range, who have reached out to thank me for articulating feelings they shared, or respectfully (most of the time, anyway) challenged my opinions and conclusions. And I have lurked on the comment threads and social media feeds to see others engaged in (mostly) respectful debate. It has reaffirmed my commitment to journalism as an important tool to foster civil society, and reignited my affection for a city that, as challenging as it can be, is also home to a uniquely passionate and engaged populace.
Although we are very far away from solving Vancouver’s affordability crisis, the past two years have seen us make some major progress. We no longer dismiss affordability concerns — at least not publicly — and the powers that be have begun to respond. Our provincial government has taken steps to reform our real estate industry, researchers have begun to study it and our city has rocketed to the top of our national radar as a cautionary tale. If there’s a silver lining in this, and I think that there is, it’s that our outright obsession with the cost of housing in Vancouver belies a greater concern for our city as a whole. We have tacitly agreed that we are not OK with Vancouver becoming a resort town for the rich. We want a city that is inclusive and affordable for a diverse population and we are willing to fight for it.
I’m going to continue to do my part as an instigator of thoughtful conversation on civic issues — although sadly, it won’t be through this column. The time has come for me to move on from opinion writing in order to get deeper into civic journalism as senior editor at Vancouver Magazine beginning in January. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to develop my voice on these pages, to share my thoughts with readers and to receive some of yours in return. This experience has opened more doors for me than I’d ever anticipated and I hope it has made a positive impact in some of your lives too. It is truly special to be among a small group of people with the platform to help shape the conversation in a city in the midst of a delicate and complicated transition. So keep an eye out for me, because I plan on seeing it through.
@jm_barrett
