Whenever Vancouver's designation as one of the most expensive cities in North America is discussed, talk of the cost of housing is never far behind. Questions about affordable housing and vacant homes are frequently reprised, often with the assumption that the situation has been worsening over recent years and will only continue to get worse. This discussion is made even more complicated by the fact that a potentially impending recession could both cause serious financial harm to the average Vancouverite and cause the housing market to bounce back to affordable rates.

But what do the numbers have to say about Vancouver housing? Created from publicly available census data from 2006 to 2021, the following data visualizations offer a glimpse into the patterns, trends, and (dis)continuities in Vancouver’s housing landscape across space and time. What we present is an opportunity for exploration that may help paint a more comprehensive, arms-length picture of where Vancouver stands today, based on where Vancouver has been.

Data is, of course, fickle; it is contextual and there are many factors that go unseen. Therefore, what we present should not be taken as conclusive arguments for or against any one point. Instead, we aim to convey the idea that data can help facilitate a more holistic understanding of something as complex, contentious, and critical as housing in Vancouver.

Notes:

• All calculations for inflation were performed using the Bank of Canada Inflation Calculator)

• The 2011 data we present is a synthesis of census data and the National Household Survey (NHS).

• The 2011 census collected minimal information about income, cost of living, etc.; the NHS, which did collect this information, does not offer information on a neighbourhood scale. Therefore, 2011 data concerning neighbourhood-specific income information should be considered null.

While the cost of dwellings has been steadily increasing in census years since (at least) 2011*, the median rental has remained relatively accessible to the median household. Of course, further complexity exists. For example, multiple-income two-parent or multigenerational households may earn above the median income, but they are also more likely to need larger dwellings which cost more than the median dwelling. The visualizations below offer some more nuance.

*Data not available for 2006

As evidenced above, the median dwelling is inaccessible to the average one-person household. However, while the gulf has grown wider over the past fifteen years, this increase is relatively small. In short, while it's a luxury to live alone in Vancouver in 2022, that's nothing new.

However, the situation has improved for one-parent households, with 2021 marking the first census year where the median rental was accessible to the median one-parent household.

In the visualization below, toggle between years to see how the frequency of dwelling types in Vancouver has changed over time.

But a monolithic view of Vancouver does not tell the whole story. A view informed by space, as well as time, reveals different neighbourhoods' varied experiences of economic and social change.

Explore the visualization above by moving the “Year” slider in the middle right, and note how the relative attributes change in every neighborhood. For example, Vancouver’s downtown has had the highest relative increase from 2006-2016, while, for comparison, Kerrisdale has seen a decrease in population.

None of this is intended to minimize personal or communal experiences of gentrification, exclusion, or inequity within the Vancouver housing landscape. We readily admit the potential narrative gaps in what we present. For example, perhaps the median income in Vancouver has increased not because pay has been justly increased to match inflation and the rising cost of living, but because lower-income residents have been fully priced out of Vancouver proper - the only area examined here. If our geographic scope had included the entire Vancouver Census Metropolitan Area instead of just the city of Vancouver, our findings may have been different.

What we have presented is an attempt to situate the current discussion around Vancouver housing within its temporal and spatial context. The takeaway should not be to dismiss calls for more affordable housing or better wages as unfounded, but rather to acknowledge that these issues are not new, nor are they uniformly experienced across the city.