What? Do you live in an alternate reality?

No, I live in Vancouver.

We have posts like this one several times a week in our subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/comments/1498ksd/does_any...

People in that thread are saying their retirement plan is MAiD (the new Canadian assisted suicide program). People talk about being depressed, sobbing regularly over how unaffordable things have gotten.

There are more posts like this in every major BC city subreddit as well as /r/britishcolumbia and /r/canada

Yeah, I lived in Vancouver until last year too. I'm aware of that kind of post, and many of my friends who recently graduated from uni worry about that too, but it's a stretch to claim they're sobbing and depressed and in tears over it.

Second, nobody is saying their retirement plan is euthanasia other than as a joke, or a dogwhistle.

No, people in software are currently mostly not at that breaking point (though they might get there). Maybe even most fresh graduates in (most) other fields whose optimism hasn't been crushed by the unceasing grind of day-to-day life with no progression.

I assure you a lot of people do break down over how hopeless it feels here. And I don't even think people are joking about MAiD as a retirement plan (and the people relying on MAiD as a retirement plan are also the people who support MAiD)

It's the people in their 30s who have no savings (I'm one of them). People in their 40s who work for <$24/hr and have had to rent at near-market for the majority of their time, for one reason or another. People who have been paycheck to paycheck despite busting their asses every day, and maybe even getting a bachelors degree that did nothing for them (again, I realize CS grads have been relatively unscathed here to date)

Vancouver has gotten much worse even in the last year, in terms of homelessness, mental health issues, rent prices, and overall affordability, so maybe if you moved away > 1 year ago you aren't even aware of how bad it's gotten.

You can replace Vancouver with any other city and your post would remain the same. Again, go touch grass and plug out of reddit, that shit isn't good for your mental health.

Vancouver is a WONDERFUL city by 99% of the world standard, that's why so many people CHOOSE to live here. Just like Canada is an amazing country.

I've been in Vancouver for 10y now, have lived in many other cities across the first world and wouldn't want to be anywhere else. It has its challenges like any other city

> Vancouver is a WONDERFUL city by 99% of the world standard, that's why so many people CHOOSE to live here. Just like Canada is an amazing country.

Well.. I've been in Vancouver for 10 years now also.

The city has gotten much worse.

I'm relatively privileged in that I'm able to pay bills right now, but many people aren't. I have so many friends working for less than $25/hr who are one renoviction away from homelessness (they can't afford the market rate).

And I have recently-homeless friends who have decided to live in their car rather than compete for rent.

Several friends on PRs have decided to go back to their home countries (India, Australia). Lots of young people who don't have parents to fall back on have left the city. Other friends have retreated to the interior or the island (though the affordability of everywhere in BC is abysmal right now)

I'm not saying there aren't more people coming than going (Canada's aggressive immigration goals have ensured that), just that most people who get here find it's a struggle.

> Again, go touch grass and plug out of reddit, that shit isn't good for your mental health.

I'm basing this on the experience of people I know outside of the internet, but obviously that's not something I can link to in Hacker News.

Most people I know IRL don't consider Vancouver a desirable place to live now. Perhaps more desirable for weather than other Canadian cities, but not on par with the major cities of other first-world countries (again, I have friends from other countries who have said this is why they were going back).

Right, and most that I do know do consider, including people who migrated recently from other cities in the world -- Sydney/AUS, Madrid/Spain, SF/US, Lon/UK. So anecdotes vs anecdotes huh ?

Have you read other reddits ? If you read the Amsterdam one, London, NY, Sydney.. it's all the same. It's a GLOBAL problem.

Life is much less affordable now than it was 10y ago. Nothing unique to Canada.

> Amsterdam ... Sydney

Go ahead and find me as many doom and gloom posts about the economy in Amsterdam as here... I'll wait. Looking at the Amsterdam sub, it looks like the number of posts from people freaking out about work/homelessness/affordibility has been relatively consistent (and low volume) over the last 10 years. Vancouver on the other hand...

I'm not denying it's a "global problem" in that many cities are affected.

Yes, many other west coast cities are having a tough time (though at least jobs pay more relative to CoL in every other west coast city... even SF).

But cities like Amsterdam aren't, and people struggling in Australia are largely doing so for different reasons (politics / social attitudes rather than economy). The minimum wage there is much closer to a living wage. My friend who prefers Vancouver for nature/vibe is going back to Australia to work so he can save up some money to come back with.

Edit: Interestingly, people in the Amsterdam subreddit seem to think that Amsterdam is overall better/more affordable than Vancouver:

- https://www.reddit.com/r/Amsterdam/comments/xetw2m/comment/i...

> "i call bullshit, no fucking way that Vancouver or Calgary are more liveable than Amsterdam, no fucking way."

- https://www.reddit.com/r/Amsterdam/comments/13fdx4z/comment/...

> "Vancouver property market (both buying and rental) is much much worse than the Dutch one."

- https://www.reddit.com/r/Amsterdam/comments/xetw2m/comment/i...

> "Vancouver; liveable yes, affordable no"

- https://www.reddit.com/r/Amsterdam/comments/y51soz/comment/i...

> "Housing crisis is worse in Toronto and Vancouver ... you earn less there and it’s still more expensive than here"

- https://www.reddit.com/r/Amsterdam/comments/twxkio/comment/i...

> "As a Vancouverite that left for Amsterdam 11 years ago, moving to Vancouver is a horrible idea"

For the last year, the only time I've seen posts in /r/vancouver (from people who live here) talking about it being a great city, the praise is tempered by caveats about how it's going to be a struggle unless you're wealthy

You're delusional. There are people like your friend in Australia moving to Canada for the same reason.

Amsterdam has a wait list for one year for rental, there's zero availability, rents are through the rough and salary is way lower Vancouver for any tech person, apart from their tax credit in the first 3y you move there the taxes are bigger than here too, ask me how I know ;)

Well.. I brought receipts. Why don't you try doing the same?

I'm not talking about tech specifically, just overall liveability/affordability for the average person trying not to die on the streets.

Is there some reason people in the Amsterdam sub seem pretty content and the people who have lived in both Amsterdam and Vancouver think Vancouver is unaffordable?

Reddit isn’t receipt, in fact is basically the opposite of signal. Go live in Amsterdam and draw your conclusions — I’ve lived around and know:work with people from all over

In fact I would recommend you looking at other reddits that aren’t as bad of an echo chamber of whining — British Columbia , Coquitlam , Surrey , new Westminster

I see where you're coming from and I agree, Vancouver can definitely feel soul crushing if you're not making a lot of money. There's huge problems with the city right now.

But I also think it's important to maintain perspective. Nobody is talking about killing themselves in retirement. This is literally not a thing. Don't pretend it is, it'll only make you depressed and susceptible to conspiracy theorists.

Vancouver sucks, but it's also the most desirable city in Canada. There's a reason real estate is so expensive and keeps going up, it's because people keep moving in.

I work for a FAANG company where highly-paid full-time engineers will still complain in a similar fashion (yes even mentioning suicide occasionally). Moral of the story, a small chunk of people will always complain.

I've got nothing against Canada, but I do prefer the US.

hahah, reddit is garbage, EVERY CITY REDDIT looks like that. Go touch grass. People in Canada are usually happy and going on with their life

You see commentary like that almost anywhere in the west where housing/etc has outpaced salaries in recent decades.

A lot of US Reddit comments on lifestyle affordability split quite drastically into earning-well-going-great and how-does-anyone-survive camps.