Housing & Affordability: Tired of talking about it yet?
You can’t get through a conversation in Vancouver without housing or affordability coming up. With a steady stream of news articles, stories, research and reports creating buzz, it’s been a hot topic in Vancouver and continues to dominate Vancouverites’ concerns.
Millennials and younger generations are being disproportionately affected by astronomical costs of living. With more millennials living at home than ever before and millennials spending more of their income than almost any other age group on housing costs, we need to find solutions to make housing in particular more affordable.
There has been lots of talk about millennials, but has there been much dialogue with or by millennials?
Go to any open house or community consultation, and millennials are often largely underrepresented. How do the voices, desires, and needs of millennials get heard if they aren’t at the table or don’t show up to where it matters? And more importantly, how do we create productive, solution-oriented conversations if this voice is missing at the table?
That’s where the 30Network comes in.
What is the 30Network?
CityHive and Youthful Cities are teaming up to organize Vancouver’s 30Network: a pop-up think tank of 30 young urban influencers under the age of 30, to convene and co-create innovative solutions on housing and affordability. Over 4 sessions, these 30 urban influencers will work with experts in the region to identify the challenges, gaps and areas of influence, and will then co-create innovative projects to land on the ground.
We aren’t looking for 30 housing experts – if there was an easy, overnight solution that could be found by putting a bunch of housing experts in one room, we wouldn’t be having this conversation now. Instead, the aim of the 30Network is to connect leaders from a range of urban areas – artists, techies, sustainability enthusiasts, transportation nerds, and the list goes on- to collaborate and stretch beyond silos and sectors. With strong diversity, a range of experiences, a dash of expert support, and a collective interest, these creative minds will be put together to co-create innovative, new projects and solutions.
Are you one of the 30 young urban influencers that the first Vancouver 30Network is looking for? Apply here now.
Special thanks to Vancity Credit Union, the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association, the Real Estate Foundation of BC, LandlordBC and RADIUS for their generous support in making this possible.
This work is the product of many amazing programs that empower organizations and individuals, like myself. I would especially like to acknowledge the SFU Student Social Innovation Seed Fund for the trust and financial support that they have endowed us with to do our work.
About CityHive
CityHive is a youth-driven organization on a mission to transform the way youth are engaged in planning, decision making and civic processes in Vancouver. CityHive harnesses the energy, needs, and passion of youth to solve current urban challenges and amplify the voice of urban youth. As a non-profit social enterprise, CityHive helps organizations and institutions transform the way that they engage youth. We empower youth through education, advocacy, and by creating opportunities for them to act on city issues.
