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Cost of housing in Canada

Unhoused sailors in Halifax is not exactly a new thing. As of at least two years ago emails have periodically come from the formation chief to canvas everyone to see if anyone was couch surfing based on members on the WC doing the same. Some of the issue is pers coming off course and expected to get out of single quarters, that was expanded but I'm sure there there are other situations. Not sure that helped or not. We used to have buildings such as Normandy block and St Laurent block, those were pulled down long ago. All PMQ's or at least ones that are habitable are full including Shearwater. Letting sailors live on the ships was looked at and dismissed as duty watches would have to expand as when they were reduced living onboard was stopped.
On twitter the Kracken just said that they are investigating after the article was published, not sure why this is all news to him because it was well known.

I guess they could reach out the universities and see if there is any accommodations available in Fenwick towers or something similar. As was previously mentioned a workcamp could be set up in Halifax at the former site of St Laurent block where there is water and sewer already available and close to the dockyard, just takes money and seems we're all out.

What about a "barracks ship"? Eighty years ago, it was one of the solutions for housing sailors at St. John's.

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It was an interim solution for the rapidly expanded need for quarters until additional barracks could be built on land, though they continued to use the ship.

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The barracks on the Southside (that's the hillside) were demolished after the war and were gone by the time I came along (1950s). The primary naval barracks was up from the harbour on the city side as shown in the aerial photo of St. John's from 1942. (the red X is where I later grew up)

The US Navy makes much use of accommodation barges and are having new ones built.

I am, however, unfamiliar with both Halifax and Esquimalt so I don't know if there would be space to moor such a vessel.
 
What about a "barracks ship"? Eighty years ago, it was one of the solutions for housing sailors at St. John's.

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It was an interim solution for the rapidly expanded need for quarters until additional barracks could be built on land, though they continued to use the ship.

View attachment 81976View attachment 81980

The barracks on the Southside (that's the hillside) were demolished after the war and were gone by the time I came along (1950s). The primary naval barracks was up from the harbour on the city side as shown in the aerial photo of St. John's from 1942. (the red X is where I later grew up)

The US Navy makes much use of accommodation barges and are having new ones built.

I am, however, unfamiliar with both Halifax and Esquimalt so I don't know if there would be space to moor such a vessel.
Having lived in a USN accommodations barge for a couple of months, I can assure you that they would not fix the housing or retention issues. If anything, they'd make them worse...
 
Having lived in a USN accommodations barge for a couple of months, I can assure you that they would not fix the housing or retention issues. If anything, they'd make them worse...

I would agree if using USN standards, even for their new builds which, though it appears much better than the berthing space I occupied on the USS Cleveland (LPD 7) over 40 years ago, is even worse (space wise) than the 1950s vintage barracks of my TQ3 days.


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My vision would be something more like "coastels" that are on the commercial leasing market.


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What about a "barracks ship"? Eighty years ago, it was one of the solutions for housing sailors at St. John's.


I am, however, unfamiliar with both Halifax and Esquimalt so I don't know if there would be space to moor such a vessel.

There's a few places you could put them, however, in a few years when we have all the AOPs online, JSS plus Asterix, it's going to be tough. Fast forward a few more years when you've got CSCs AND CPFs in harbour and it'll be really tough. You could probably put one ovmf these over at the dockyard annex in Dartmouth, but not sure where'd you'd put one in Esquimalt.
 

Nice to see the government looking at this seriously. Hopefully this time, messaging = action.

When I first heard of the temporary foreign worker program bringing in skilled workers in area where there was a shortage of skilled workers, I thought it was a good idea. But when they started using it to bring in unskilled workers that companies could continue to pay lower than market wages, I felt it interfered in the labour market, suppressing wages.

I would be extremely happy if this program were reigned in. If it helps reduce demand for housing, that’s an added bonus.
The program has literally been identified as a modern slavery program. Very exploitative and used in a completely wrong way. Particularly when its the closed sponsor system which ties the worker to a specific job and company. Complain about your mistreatment and instantly deported.

Companies love it though which is why even though the Liberals talked about shutting it down under Harper, they instead expanded it significantly.
 
The program has literally been identified as a modern slavery program. Very exploitative and used in a completely wrong way. Particularly when its the closed sponsor system which ties the worker to a specific job and company. Complain about your mistreatment and instantly deported.

Companies love it though which is why even though the Liberals talked about shutting it down under Harper, they instead expanded it significantly.
It also allows companies to pay under market wages. When they complain that no local will take the job at minimum wage, they get to import cheap labour.

It's easy to complain that "kids" today are lazy, but they are facing a labor and housing market that is nothing like what we faced only 10+ years ago when we were starting out. Why work when working won't pay for a place to live and food on your plate?
 
It's easy to complain that "kids" today are lazy, but they are facing a labor and housing market that is nothing like what we faced only 10+ years ago when we were starting out. Why work when working won't pay for a place to live and food on your plate?
And they are far from stupid. They know this and they are acting accordingly.
 
It also allows companies to pay under market wages. When they complain that no local will take the job at minimum wage, they get to import cheap labour.

It's easy to complain that "kids" today are lazy, but they are facing a labor and housing market that is nothing like what we faced only 10+ years ago when we were starting out. Why work when working won't pay for a place to live and food on your plate?
The sad part is they are working. Statistically they are working more hours than any other generation in recent history. They just can’t get ahead and therefore have no incentive to do things like overtime or unpaid work.

When I have done OT it was because there was a goal I was reaching for. For them all the bigger goals are so far out of reach they basically can’t hit them no matter how much OT they do. They also know the work hard and be rewarded mantra is also a lie. The harder you work, usually the more work your bosses put on you for nothing extra.
 
The sad part is they are working. Statistically they are working more hours than any other generation in recent history. They just can’t get ahead and therefore have no incentive to do things like overtime or unpaid work.

When I have done OT it was because there was a goal I was reaching for. For them all the bigger goals are so far out of reach they basically can’t hit them no matter how much OT they do. They also know the work hard and be rewarded mantra is also a lie. The harder you work, usually the more work your bosses put on you for nothing extra.
Where I work at the PS, on my team, several people are working second jobs just to try and keep up let alone get ahead. Many are millennials and Gen z types.
 
The program has literally been identified as a modern slavery program. Very exploitative and used in a completely wrong way. Particularly when its the closed sponsor system which ties the worker to a specific job and company. Complain about your mistreatment and instantly deported.

Companies love it though which is why even though the Liberals talked about shutting it down under Harper, they instead expanded it significantly.
I remember when Jason Kenny was a cabinet minister, he ways saying how the program interfered in the labour market and kept wages artificially low, i.e. it was a bad thing. I can’t recall what the Tory government actually did, but i got the impression they weren’t a fan. They definitely didn’t end it though.
 
USN accommodation barges beat sleeping in a park. But not by a wide margin…
question: how many cruise ships, with a passenger capacity in the thousands are laid up or otherwise available for long term charter at a reasonable rate?
 
Buyers and sellers in 2024 may find this of interest,

Average property buying cost:

Vancouver $1,185,100

Toronto $1,081,300

Mississauga $1,042,100

Brampton $1,081,300

Hamilton $805,700

Ottawa $628,900

Calgary $557,400

Montreal $514,300

Edmonton $368,200

Winnipeg $332,700

 
We’re boned…

Aye.

Interesting to note that Canada’s housing market didn’t correct down like the U.S. -25% correction during the 2008 recession.

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Quick look on the map, it seems Shearwater has room to build a accommodations using a camp type structure.

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These are designed and meant to be temporary structures for workers while away from their homes. Who joins the CAF to live just one level of shelter above a homeless encampment.
And anyway, if there is one department of government that could f*ck that up, build it shabby, for loads more money and even less utility, it would be the folks who run housing for DND.
 
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