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Ian Young
Ian Young

The Hongcouver | In Bizarro Vancouver, 25,000 households declare less income than they spend on housing alone

The unusual phenomenon exists in one in ten households across city – with the situation extreme in Arbutus, South Granville and other wealthy neighbourhoods

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Vancouver neighbourhoods where at least 20 per cent of households declare income lower than their housing costs alone are shown in darkening shades of pink. But even in light blue areas, the rate is at least 10 per cent, more than double the Canadian average. Graphic: MountainMath
Ian Youngin Vancouver
Vancouver neighbourhoods where at least 20 per cent of households declare income lower than their housing costs alone are shown in darkening shades of pink. But even in light blue areas, the rate is at least 10 per cent, more than double the Canadian average. Graphic: MountainMath
Vancouver neighbourhoods where at least 20 per cent of households declare income lower than their housing costs alone are shown in darkening shades of pink. But even in light blue areas, the rate is at least 10 per cent, more than double the Canadian average. Graphic: MountainMath
Vancouver watchers are getting increasingly used to Bizarro-type statistics about their city. How could they not, when the average detached house price is about C$1.4 milion?

But I came across a true head-spinner this week, courtesy of mathematician Dr Jens von Bergmann, a former teacher at Notre Dame and the University of Calgary who now runs MountainMath Software, a small data firm based in Vancouver.

According to Statistics Canada data from the 2011 National Household Survey that was mapped by von Bergmann, there are 24,960 households in the City of Vancouver where the amount spent on shelter (mortgage, rent, utilities, property tax and strata/condo fees) exceeds 100 per cent of their declared household income. Think about that: these households claim to earn less than they spend on accommodation alone.

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Jens von Bergmann. Photo: Supplied
Jens von Bergmann. Photo: Supplied
And it’s not an insignificant cohort. They represent 9.5 per cent of all households in the city.

But you might want to hold off on the pity party - while some may be undergoing financial stress, most of the neighbourhoods where the situation is extreme aren’t exactly struggling.

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Fascinating interactive maps devised by von Bergmann make this clear . While there are neighbourhoods with relatively high proportions of such households (say, 20 per cent or greater) scattered across the city, they are conspicuously concentrated in the city’s expensive Westside.
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