(Vancouver Courier, February 6)
Lovely green West 38th Avenue.
Between Dunbar and Collingwood streets, a short stretch of asphalt (perfect for street hockey) runs through narrow sidewalks and lawns shaded by pine and birch. It’s suburbia in the city, west of Kerrisdale’s shops and restaurants, amid blocks of what speculators call “detached housing stock.”
Others call it home.
“Growing up in the ’80s and ’90s our neighbourhood was vibrant and alive with kids playing on front lawns, moms and dads walking their kids to school,” remembers Mikael Bingham, a pretty 29-year-old with an easy smile. “My siblings and I forged friendships with kids that have endured for decades. We were lucky to have lived that way.”
Mikael grew up on West 38th in the yellow two-storey with the signature red door. Her parents moved in 31 years ago after her grandparents bought the place. “We think the house is about 80 years old,” says Mikael, one of five Bingham children.
A lot has changed on West 38th and across Vancouver. Once a city with many working-class neighbourhoods, Vancouver’s gone cosmopolitan, attaining “most livable city” status on the international scene. Mass immigration has altered city culture and our inflated housing market, buoyed by speculation and investment from China and elsewhere, continues to stir.
In British Columbia, there are no restrictions on foreign ownership of real estate. Anyone from anywhere can buy on your street and mothball the house for future sale, decreasing supply and upping prices. Of course, there are benefits. Folks, including retirees, may sell their homes for huge profit. But who takes their place? What happens when the Jones move away? In some neighbourhoods, the answers grate.
While strolling West 38th with Mikael and younger sister Rachael, the effects of real estate investment loom large. Next door to the Bingham house sits a grey three-storey. Originally a bungalow, it was bought before the Olympics, transformed and then mothballed. According to Prudential United Realty, the 3,529-square-foot, five bathroom, five-bedroom pad is yours for $2,089,000.
Two doors east of the Binghams, sits a black and grey chalet-style house with sloping peaks. It rose from the ruins of a demolished bungalow, and according to Mikael, has been empty for years. Across the street, a boxy two-storey sits empty, although the yard remains trim and green thanks to regular visits from a landscaper. Conversely, in the adjacent lot, grass grows brown outside a beige stucco bungalow, its address spraypainted in yellow across the front door. Empty, of course, awaiting its owner’s next move.
“We’ve watched the neighbourhood turn into something of a ghost town,” nods Mikael. “And we've seen perfectly functional and beautiful houses torn down to be replaced with developer's specials that sit empty for months, sometimes years.”
Yes, the neighbourhood’s changing. Gone are the Lyles, the Jinxes, the Hodgsons, the families and kids who walked to nearby Kerrisdale elementary and Point Grey secondary.
Rachael, a blond and blue-eyed 27-year-old, recently moved back into the family home. “We don’t know our neighbours anymore,” she says. “Halloween is the most depressing. My mom still carves seven pumpkins and stills buys a lot of candy but no kids come around. This street is sad.”
Sometime soon, the Bingham house and its red door, home to Christmas dinners and sleepovers, will be bulldozed. The Bingham parents, both still working, rent from the grandparents who must sell to support their golden years. Everyone wants the grandparents to receive market value—at least $1.7 million. According to the realtor, who measured the Bingham house last Friday, it will be demolished shortly after sale. That’s the trend on West 38th Avenue.
Upstairs, Mikael’s old bedroom sits empty. Underneath the slanted ceiling, she looks up toward the skylight. “Our house was sort of a neighbourhood hub where our friends would hang out. We all recognize that we were really blessed to have stayed in the same place growing up, but that makes it harder, I guess.”
A consultant currently working with a law firm, Mikael lives with her husband in a rented apartment on the East Side. They’ll likely stay in Vancouver, it’s a great place to live. But the old neighbourhood is dead.
Comments