My Wet Coast Life

With the recent massive quakes hitting Haiti and repetitively battering Chile, a couple decent shakers for Japan and South Pacific, we have been lucky to dodge the bullet in the Pacific Northwest. And that appears like it is going to change...

Around 1 week ago, i wrote about earthquakes and the frequency that they are occurring, how the Northwest so far has dodged the bullet and if British Columbia is in line for the next big one. In the last couple days, we have had two 4+ magnitude quakes of the coast of Oregon and now this morning, Los Angeles gets hit with a 4.4 magnitude quake. Luckily, no reports of damage or injuries have been reported.

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Link: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/the-incredible-shrinking-condo/article1443864/

Now i am not a fan of apartments after spending most of my life living in a house. Most apartments i did live in were fairly large 1 and 2 bedrooms on average 8-900+ square feet. I just prefer to open my front door and see lawn instead of a hallway, not have to do my laundry in a communal room and wait around so someone doesn't make off with my clothes and be able to go out the back door and enjoy a yard and BBQ.

I got to house sit for my sister in Yaletown area of Vancouver and started to see the shrinking domicile. Her one bedroom (with den) was just over 500 square feet and i felt confined. But it worked for her as she was hardly home and needed a place to eat, sleep and do laundry, other than that, she was out and about. If your a person who likes to chill at home, cabin fever sets in very quickly and if more than one person, doesn't take long to encroach on the others space...

Now why am i talking about that? well, to make affordable housing more affordable, they have come out with an apartment/loft measuring a mere 270 square feet!
That works out to be smaller than 2 parking stalls or about the size of a sailboat living space. Now for those on low income, this can beat the hotel/motel room until you see the price. They want $750/month for this or about $2.77/square foot where my 900+ square feet one bedroom in North Vancouver worked out to $1.12/square foot. and was 3 times the size for only $200 more a month! Now i understand it comes furnished with built-in wall beds, tables and flat-screen TVs but you kind need all the space saving designs available when the space is so small. It is is to be affordable, rent should be around $500/month and the $750/month price should include a separate room at the bare minimum...

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