Move to New West where it's cheaper....or Whalley that is getting cleaned up?

could afford the rent here.... definitely engineers!
It's the minimum-wagers who are going to have to either group up or move away.

on election day. Who do you think was the governing party that turned the other cheek while all of this was going on? The prices of houses going through the roof, the landlords upping the rents to astronomical levels, the minimum wage staying BELOW the poverty level, the giving of a once in a 7 year increase to disabled persons, only to have it literally stripped away within a couple of days by saying that the bus passes would no longer be covered, thereby essentially making that increase null and void. They've ruined our Province for us, the worker bee people. I was born and raised here and I don't recognize this place anymore, nor can I afford to live here either. This is not the way the world is supposed to work, people. Since when does a government get to treat it's tax-paying citizens like they don't count? Since when does a government get to ignore what their constituents are saying? No one else did it. They did. Time to get out and vote and let them know that we've had enough.

Ah, the joys of unfettered capitalism...

I'm also a born and bred Vancouverite, and the changes that I've watched happen to this city in the last few decades has literally broken my heart. I loved this place. I raised my kids here, none of whom can afford to live in it anymore. It's now a soulless city filled with people who have no history here and thus little regard or respect for those who do. The very foundation of a city depends on the people who make it run, and so many of us are leaving because we either no longer recognize what it has become, or because we can't afford to live a decent lifestyle in it. What makes this city so ridiculous isn't just the cost of renting or buying, it's that the wages/ salaries are so out of proportion to those costs as to make it unaffordable. Even the traditional highly-paid professionals who didn't already have a house here before the massive influx of foreign buyers drove real estate through the roof can't afford to buy here! That's when you know that a city is going to die. Everyday people run the world, and unless they feel like they are getting a good life where they are, they're going to leave.

@Mitch:
Ironically I'm moving from Whaley. Sure people get shot here, but maybe, for better or for worse, gunshots are the sound of affordable rent?

@most of the careeres you listed:
I mentioned engineers specifically because I know a bunch of them who had the choice of staying in ramshackle student housing after they graduated, spending huge amounts on rent rather than paying off hefty student loans, and making a better go of it elsewhere. Some of them even bought houses way up the coast and put together snazzy teleconferencing systems in their home office so they can telecommute to the Vancouver office. While this is a clever workaround, the city loses their municipal taxes, and services like grocery stores and lounge singers suffer the loss of business. So, yes, I agree that professionals can survive here (for now) but they still can't buy a house. Maybe it's a question of thriving vs. surviving.

I especially feel for the lounge singers.

Is a lounge singer on Mars. He couldn't make a go of it in Vancouver.