{"id":357,"date":"2011-06-28T09:14:38","date_gmt":"2011-06-28T16:14:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingvancouver.ca\/?p=357"},"modified":"2013-01-21T07:10:53","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T15:10:53","slug":"school-troubles-in-a-booming-metropolis-part-1-demographics-and-family-housing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2011\/06\/28\/school-troubles-in-a-booming-metropolis-part-1-demographics-and-family-housing\/","title":{"rendered":"School Troubles in a Booming Metropolis \u2013 Part 1: Demographics and Family Housing"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_360\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-360\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/Spacing_EdithCavellElementarySchool_headline.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-360\" title=\"Spacing_EdithCavellElementarySchool_headline\" src=\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/Spacing_EdithCavellElementarySchool_headline.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-360\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">    Edith Cavell Elementary School in Vancouver during its experimental two-week spring break earlier this year \u2013 an attempt by the school board to cut costs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/spacingmedia.com\/spacingvancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/features\/indepth_feature-VAN.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"72\" \/><\/p>\n<p>[<em><strong>Editors Note:<\/strong> this is a revised version of\u00a0 a four-piece series originally published on <a href=\"http:\/\/planningpool.com\/2011\/04\/demographics\/school-troubles-booming-metropolis-part-1\/comment-page-1\/#comment-2675\" target=\"_blank\">Planning Pool<\/a><\/em>]<\/p>\n<p>Recent years have not been easy for public schools in Vancouver. A local newspaper identified threatened school closures as one of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vancourier.com\/technology\/Courier+considers+Newsmaker+Year\/3842392\/story.html\">top news stories of 2010<\/a>. While the Vancouver Board of Education finally placed a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vsb.bc.ca\/school-closures\">moratorium on proceeding with school closures<\/a> until 2012, the need to consider closing schools at all seems strange in a city whose overall population is growing by over 1% annually.<\/p>\n<p>Demographic shift \u2013 \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/www.citycaucus.com\/2010\/12\/24-hours-vancouver-planned-ahead-for-school-closures\">low birth rates and an aging population<\/a>\u201d \u2013 is perhaps the most frequently cited explanation for school closures and other measures to scale back school services. The overall population of Canada, like that of many other \u201cdeveloped\u201d countries, is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.smeurrens.com\/2010\/08\/903\/\">indeed aging<\/a>. But local demographic trends are more nuanced. Adults of all ages selectively decide where within a city, region or country to settle, whether they have kids or not.<\/p>\n<p>The Vancouver School Board\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/british-columbia\/story\/2010\/10\/26\/bc-vancouver-school-closures.html\">complaints of declining enrolment<\/a> made me wonder whether families with kids might be leaving the City of Vancouver for its suburbs in increasing numbers. This would leave the central City with a population made up of even greater proportions of childless households and retirees than could be explained by nation-wide demographic shift.<\/p>\n<p><!--more-->Demographic data reveal that the proportion of the population made up of school-aged children has generally declined since 1986 in both the central City of Vancouver (pop. 600,000) and in the rest of the region. (Metro Vancouver has a population of about 2 million.) As expected, demographic shift occurring in Vancouver. Also unsurprisingly, school-aged children have consistently made up a smaller proportion of the population in the central City of Vancouver than in the rest of the region, which is generally more suburban in character.<\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_365\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-365\" style=\"width: 360px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-365\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2011\/06\/28\/school-troubles-in-a-booming-metropolis-%e2%80%93-part-1-demographics-and-family-housing\/school-aged-children-and-a-proportion-of-the-population\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-365 \" title=\"School-Aged Children and a Proportion of the Population\" src=\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/School-Aged-Children-and-a-Proportion-of-the-Population-600x280.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"360\" height=\"168\" srcset=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/School-Aged-Children-and-a-Proportion-of-the-Population-600x280.png 600w, https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/School-Aged-Children-and-a-Proportion-of-the-Population.png 899w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-365\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">School-aged Children as a Proportion of the Population of the City of Vancouver and the Rest of the Region.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, for the Vancouver School Board, the percentage of the population represented by school-aged children has declined at an even faster rate in the City of Vancouver (falling from 14.8% in 1986 to 13.6% in 2006) than in the rest of the region (where it fell from 19.9% to 19.4%).<strong>*<\/strong> This could be interpreted to support a hypothesis that families with children are increasingly leaving the central City of Vancouver for its suburbs. The more suburban City of Surrey (pop.400,000) manages to have the only public school district in British Columbia where\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/thetyee.ca\/News\/2010\/10\/14\/LearningHubs\">enrolment is actually increasing<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>There trends are not unique to Metro Vancouver. <a href=\"http:\/\/discoveringurbanism.blogspot.com\/2010\/06\/do-young-families-prefer-suburbs.html\">One analysis<\/a> of 2006 Canadian census data showed that \u201c27% of first-time parents made the move out the city and very few moved in.\u201d\u00a0A\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www12.statcan.gc.ca\/census-recensement\/2006\/as-sa\/97-553\/p39-eng.cfm\">Statistics Canada report<\/a> suggests that \u201cone of the explanations for a younger population is that peripheral municipalities are favoured by households with couples and children\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Across Canada, young families tend to depart from inner cities. Why might this be? A Vancouver-based twitter feed (right) proposed an educated guess.<\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_366\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-366\" style=\"width: 334px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-366\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2011\/06\/28\/school-troubles-in-a-booming-metropolis-%e2%80%93-part-1-demographics-and-family-housing\/twitter-screenshot_vanspecial\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-366 \" title=\"Twitter Screenshot_Vanspecial\" src=\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/Twitter-Screenshot_Vanspecial.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"334\" height=\"155\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-366\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">screencap from vanspecial on Twitter: Families in Surrey\u2026 http:\/\/twitter.com\/#!\/vanspecial\/status\/42780653149896704<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p>For families with children to live in central cities like Vancouver, they need <em>affordable<\/em> and <em>suitable<\/em> family housing. As many young residents <a href=\"http:\/\/www.geoffmeggs.ca\/2011\/05\/06\/cambie-corridor-debate-lays-bare-generational-differences-when-it-comes-to-tackling-the-housing-crisis\/\">have been informing Vancouver City Council<\/a> in response to the Cambie Corridor Plan, this type of housing is widely out of reach in Vancouver.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affordability of Vancouver\u2019s Family Housing<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rbc.com\/newsroom\/2010\/0927-housing.html\">Royal Bank of Canada Economics Research housing report<\/a> recently determined Vancouver\u2019s housing market to be the least affordable in Canada. The situation is most dire for the 35% of Metro Vancouver households that rent their dwelling. Virtually <a href=\"http:\/\/www.planningcommission.ca\/a-made-in-vancouver-solution-for-our-citys-rental-housing-crisis\">no purpose-built rental is currently being produced<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Single-family houses, which have traditional been homes for families,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.scribd.com\/doc\/49039454\/Vancouver-Real-Estate-Board-Average-Price-Graph-Jan-1977-Jan-2011\">have become increasingly less affordable <\/a>when compared to attached dwellings and apartments.\u00a0Today, a typical Vancouver household would have to spend <a href=\"http:\/\/torontorealestatenews.posterous.com\/housing-affordability-the-great-quandary-the\">78% of their income<\/a> to carry the mortgage on an average bungalow.<\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_364\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-364\" style=\"width: 360px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-364\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2011\/06\/28\/school-troubles-in-a-booming-metropolis-%e2%80%93-part-1-demographics-and-family-housing\/point-grey-bungalow\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-364 \" title=\"Point Grey Bungalow\" src=\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/Point-Grey-Bungalow.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"360\" height=\"239\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-364\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A typical Vancouver household would have to spend 78% of their income to carry the mortgage on an average bungalow. Photo by author, from Vancouver&#39;s West Point Grey neighbourhood.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p>In 2006, 30.2% of Vancouver\u2019s rental households, as well as 9.9% of its owner households, experienced <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tenants.bc.ca\/ckfinder\/userfiles\/files\/Rental%20Housing%20Strategy%20Rental%20Housing%20Demand%20and%20Existing%20Supply%20%20.pdf\">core housing need<\/a>, which is a combined measure of unaffordability, crowding, and need for major repair.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Suitability of Vancouver\u2019s Family Housing<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Since single-family houses have become unaffordable for the majority of Vancouver families with children, what other suitable housing types have become available for this demographic group?<\/p>\n<p>Multi-family housing comprises more than two-thirds of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmhc.ca\/en\/corp\/nero\/nere\/2006\/2006-11-14-1130.cfm\">Vancouver housing starts<\/a>.\u00a0However, the typical Canadian urban condo averages only about 600 square feet. Three-bedroom apartments comprise only <a href=\"http:\/\/vancouver.ca\/commsvcs\/housing\/pdf\/2008cmhcdata.pdf\">2% of Vancouver apartment stock<\/a>.\u00a0Similar situations in other urban centres led a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.financialpost.com\/news\/Condo+boom+leaves+little+room+families\/2389280\/story.html\">Toronto city councilor to observe<\/a>, \u201cWe are generating the space to start families but not to house them.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_367\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-367\" style=\"width: 375px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a rel=\"attachment wp-att-367\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2011\/06\/28\/school-troubles-in-a-booming-metropolis-%e2%80%93-part-1-demographics-and-family-housing\/typical-new-condo\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-367\" title=\"Typical New Condo\" src=\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/network\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/Typical-New-Condo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"375\" height=\"500\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-367\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The typical Canadian urban condo averages about 600 square feet. Thanks to John Koetsier on Flickr for the Creative Commons photo of new condos in downtown Vancouver. Courtesy of John Koetsier.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In 2009, <a href=\"http:\/\/regardingplace.com\/\">Regarding Place Magazine<\/a> analyzed the demographics of Vancouver\u2019s neighbourhoods to identify concentrations of families with children. Researcher Erick Villagomez found that those areas of the city which had recently experienced significant redevelopment had\u00a0\u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/regardingplace.com\/?p=5770\">minimal population<\/a>\u201d of children 12 and under.\u00a0Likewise, when considering the <a href=\"http:\/\/regardingplace.com\/?p=5600\">neighbourhoods containing the greatest proportion of Vancouver\u2019s under-5 population<\/a>, \u201call [&#8230; were found to be located in] single-family home communities.\u201d These findings suggest that current models of housing\u00a0development in Vancouver are failing to provide enough family-friendly alternatives to detached houses.<\/p>\n<p>Many families with school-aged children cannot afford suitable dwelling space within central cities. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/british-columbia\/story\/2010\/10\/26\/bc-vancouver-school-closures.html\">Declining enrolments<\/a> and threatened school closures in Vancouver\u2019s school system, therefore, comprise more than a political, budgetary or demographic issue. They represent a long-range urban planning problem, and the challenge of finding models to enhance the affordability and suitability of family housing in inner cities.<\/p>\n<p>Join is next week as we delve further into schools, housing and affordability.<\/p>\n<p>****<\/p>\n<p>METHODOLOGY &amp; DATA. The geographical areas included in population counts for the Metro Vancouver region have shifted slightly over the years, meaning that attempts to compare changing numbers of children based on these data would be inaccurate. Instead, this analysis compares school-aged kids as a percentage of the entire population. Using population profile data for each census year since 1986 for both the City of Vancouver proper and for the Greater Vancouver Regional District, I calculated the school-aged population (kids aged 5 \u2013 19), then divided that population by the total population that year to reveal the proportion of the population that was school-aged.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[Editors Note: this is a revised version of\u00a0 a four-piece series originally published on Planning Pool] Recent years have not been easy for public schools in Vancouver. A local newspaper identified threatened school closures as one of the top news stories of 2010. While the Vancouver Board of Education finally placed a moratorium on proceeding<a href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2011\/06\/28\/school-troubles-in-a-booming-metropolis-part-1-demographics-and-family-housing\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"sr-only\">&#8220;School Troubles in a Booming Metropolis \u2013 Part 1: Demographics and Family Housing&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6017,"featured_media":360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11232],"tags":[1079,2144,2140,965,792,395,2141,769,398,2137,890,2138,2139,350,137,692,214,2142,1472,2143],"class_list":["post-357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-author","tag-back-school-services","tag-bank-of-canada","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-creative-commons","tag-edith-cavell-elementary-school-in-vancouver","tag-erick-villagomez","tag-indepth-features","tag-john-koetsier","tag-researcher","tag-royal-bank-of-canada","tag-school-board","tag-surrey","tag-toronto","tag-twitter","tag-vancouver-2","tag-vancouver-board-of-education","tag-vancouver-city-council","tag-vancouver-school-board"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>School Troubles in a Booming Metropolis \u2013 Part 1: Demographics and Family Housing - Spacing Vancouver<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2011\/06\/28\/school-troubles-in-a-booming-metropolis-part-1-demographics-and-family-housing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"School Troubles in a Booming Metropolis \u2013 Part 1: Demographics and Family Housing - Spacing Vancouver\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[Editors Note: this is a revised version of\u00a0 a four-piece series originally published on Planning Pool] Recent years have not been easy for public schools in Vancouver. A local newspaper identified threatened school closures as one of the top news stories of 2010. While the Vancouver Board of Education finally placed a moratorium on proceedingContinue reading &quot;School Troubles in a Booming Metropolis \u2013 Part 1: Demographics and Family Housing&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2011\/06\/28\/school-troubles-in-a-booming-metropolis-part-1-demographics-and-family-housing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Vancouver\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-06-28T16:14:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-21T15:10:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/Spacing_EdithCavellElementarySchool_headline.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Vanessa Kay\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@contessak\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Vanessa Kay\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2011\/06\/28\/school-troubles-in-a-booming-metropolis-part-1-demographics-and-family-housing\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/2011\/06\/28\/school-troubles-in-a-booming-metropolis-part-1-demographics-and-family-housing\/\",\"name\":\"School Troubles in a Booming Metropolis \u2013 Part 1: Demographics and Family Housing - 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