Apparently, $1,700 per month for 330 sq ft is low-income housing, according to Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland

Let’s put 330 sq ft into perspective. That’s easily done, given the average hotel room is 300 sq ft. That’s right, 330 sq ft is a tad bigger than your run-of-the-mill hotel room. Not some sumptuous suite but instead the usual two beds, a bathroom and a small chair with a table (if you’re lucky).

These units are in a new apartment building called Hudson House in Victoria, BC. The kicker is it was built with the Canadian Government Apartment Construction Loan program.

If you need more space, and nobody can fault you if 330 sq ft won’t quite do it, it’ll cost a lot more. A 2-bedroom unit with 895 sq ft will cost $3,300 per month.

I understand that real estate in BC, especially Vancouver and Victoria, is expensive. What gets me about this is that this was built with a government loan program intending to build low-income housing. I fail to see how that program is helping anyone yet probably costing taxpayers a fortune.

$1,700 per month is $20,400 per year after taxes. This means with $1,000 per month to live on (won’t get you a vehicle) that’s $32,400. Before taxes that’s around a $45,000 income in order to afford 330 sq ft. Hardly “low income”.

For the $3,300 unit… I’ll spare you all the math but let’s assume two adults and two children, so additional expenses will be at a minimum $2,000 per month… it comes to $5,300 x 12 months = $63,600 after taxes. That’s probably $90,000 gross household income which is not much below the median household income in BC (as of 2021).

It’s a good try but I can’t imagine anyone is concluding that this is a successful “low income” housing project. I guess when you earn $279,000 by taxpayers, it’s easy to lose touch with what’s actually low income.

We’re building more homes, faster, right across the country — and it was great to visit one new example in Victoria, BC, with beautiful new apartments for low and middle income Canadians. Check it out! pic.twitter.com/FS4mAuEMJX

— Chrystia Freeland (@cafreeland) March 12, 2024