Rental Housing in Kelowna

[Nedroj]

My biggest issue with rentals here in Kelowna and area are the “studio” suites, complete dumps or places that don’t even have a full kitchen asking for 900-1000$ a month. Or the other ones that are a 1 bed 1 bath 700sqft but asking for 50% utilities in a 2500sqft house that has 3 beds 2 baths in the main area. I know landlords have to make a little profit but I think some asking prices for rental units are way out to lunch and prey on the desperate.

Now having said that I’ve always managed to find a decent rental that is pet friendly in my budget of around 1,000$ a month. Most haven’t even asked for a pet deposit.

[normaM]

er, to answer the Q who is going to service.. for years and years the Govt has deals with other countries
One neighbouhood I was in I was like wow so many pretty women ( nope nannies from the Philippines, working for pennies on the dollar and happy to send monies back home) Same with many care homes and I have seen a lot of women from Jamaica working as live in care givers.
Doubtful there are too many Canucks who would live 8 to a picker shack and work 12 hour days.
Different reality... I am quite sure some ppl are abusing the system to avoid paying decent wages
Like when the Jamaica Men were here and had curfews ( the fuq???)
Or all the men who died in that farming accident.
Trust me, lots of people willing to come and work in Canada
btw, we wouldn't have a shortage of Drs if the Medical Assoc would loosen their strings either
But back to rentals... the dumps KNOW they can squeeze people who don't have a lot of money dry. Turn them in.. half of them prolly don't even live here. Else *bleep* like this keeps happening
https://globalnews.ca/news/3913239/noto ... nspectors/
Rant over, off to water my unicorns

[Hassel99]

What is the real story with TFW because I don't think it's a level field at all ? Do they get free accommodation & flights or are those deducted from their pay ? Do they actually pay tax or is any they do pay returned to them ?

I realise it's hard work but when they take Canadian dollars home & convert that to pesos it certainly pays off & IMO that's why they do it.
How would a Canadian doing exactly the same job compare money wise ?

Thanks for the valuable insight that people work for money.


You seam utterly clueless, no taxes, no rent? are you for real?
You dont think it is a level field but have no idea how it works? How did you come to that conclusion with out any basic understanding on what is involved?

I think your missing 3 of your wheels...

[Urban Cowboy]

Sorry but I call BS on that one.

All I'm feeling here, is that several disgruntled folk, wish to blame all society's ills on TFW's.

I'm willing to bet that high rental prices, have far more to do with the proliferation of AIR B&B's, and quite possibly the huge growth of UBCO.

City council being more fixated on "WOW factor" than rental space, also isn't helping any. It's well past time council began to think outside the box, and seriously looked at amending building regulations, to allow tiny homes in designated locations, as well as providing more mobile home spaces.

Not everyone who lives here, wants or can afford a $700K home, and it's council's job to recognize that and address it, rather than acting all hoity-toidy and viewing these other options as beneath them.

[jasond_71]

TFW, really? No Canadian will work in an orchard or as a nanny or caregiver to the elderly. As for fast food places we simply don't have the young population we used to as mostly retirees move here.
So is Starbucks and McDonald's supposed to pay $25 an hour? Banning TFW would not result in these places paying a whole lot more. If you want to make $25 an hour get a skill or an education. You could raise the minimum wage to $20 but then everything will cost more including rent and food.

[voice of reason]

there is absolutely zero need for unskilled foreign workers

[jimmy4321]

People in many professions avoid tranfers to the Okanagan, Lower Mainland and the Island if not BC altogether cause they know what it costs to live here.
Why can't people who live here that spend most their time about the cost of housing just move!? lol
At least animals have the sense to migrate to where life is better for them.

This is about life's priorities skiing, sun, boating or whatever vs MONEY cost of living etc. There was a time people moved for the money and made the best of it, now it's the other way around. Moving for the lifestyle and expecting everyone to accomodate. Most times you can't have your cake and eat it.

[Jflem1983]

People in many professions avoid tranfers to the Okanagan, Lower Mainland and the Island if not BC altogether cause they know what it costs to live here.
Why can't people who live here that spend most their time about the cost of housing just move!? lol
At least animals have the sense to migrate to where life is better for them.

This is about life's priorities skiing, sun, boating or whatever vs MONEY cost of living etc. There was a time people moved for the money and made the best of it, now it's the other way around. Moving for the lifestyle and expecting everyone to accomodate. Most times you can't have your cake and eat it.

Lol. Our own people can not afford to live here. So they should leave. JIMMY wants to bring in his foreign workers. They need the space

[LANDM]

there is absolutely zero need for unskilled foreign workers

Says someone who has never dealt with a business that can’t get Canadians to do the job...

[Jonrox]

I think a lot of people posting here are forgetting that the "T" in TFW stands for "temporary". Not only is it hard to find locals willing to fill the labor-intensive orchard and packing line work, it makes it even more difficult when they're only needed for a few months.

Additionally, unemployment is low. The way some of you talk it's like you think there's an abundance of unemployed people here that can't find jobs. It's tough to find good people when you can only offer temporary work. Most really good employees are working full-time, year-round jobs.

This thread somehow got way off topic... but I think it's still a good discussion.

[jimmy4321]

Lol. Our own people can not afford to live here. So they should leave. JIMMY wants to bring in his foreign workers. They need the space

Well the title of this tread is "Rental Housing in Kelowna"

It's not so much about Foreign Labour it's that North Americans can't compete cause we are lazy and unwilling to do the *bleep* work for the money. We are unwilling to live like they do with more people under one roof, unwilling to MOVE!

All our grandparents would be proud Lol (sarcasm)

[Urban Cowboy]

You could raise the minimum wage to $20 but then everything will cost more including rent and food.

It already is costing way more for rent and food-starting about 15 years ago. Wages have not gone up.
A senior or a person living with a disability that can't increase income is in a impossible situation here.
As I said before, if a employer can't find Canadian workers, too bad...pay more. That in itself tells me that if potential employees won't work at a place due to low wages,...that industry needs a 'economic/attitude adjustment'. Flooding the workforce with TFW's and enabling certain industries is not the answer.
I know a person that has a shared accommodation with one bedroom for rent. He has had lots of non Canadians applying to share that room with 2 or 3 other people. Like he would get into a gong show like that-Not. Ya...3 people wanting to share 1 bedroom.

You seem to be under the misguided notion that the answer to everything is "pay more", when that's really not so in every situation. Some perhaps, but not across the board as you suggest.

Again using the fruit industry as an example, because I'm more familiar with it, some of the potential workers that do show up, wouldn't produce any more at $25hr than they do at $15hr, so the orchardist still faces the same issue of getting the crop in on time, with the added bonus of having to pay a bunch more for the deadwood, that spends more time toking than picking.

You're simply wrong! The answer to every problem isn't throwing more money at it. Sometimes all that will do is force the doors to close, or in cases cause the operator to look at other options, such as automation.

I know from personal experience that we have reached a point in time, where a huge segment of the population simply has an aversion to hard physical labor, and often it's simply cheaper to use a machine, to do what humans did before.

Your are coming across as though you believe that if every farmer paid $25hr he'd have a lineup down the street of people willing to work, but that's not true. Sure some would bite at first, but after a day of learning what happens when muscles you've never used, get a workout, a large portion wouldn't show up for day two.

Also as I said before, if you were actually the one who had to pay the wages, and be responsible for justifying them in the ledger, you'd be singing a completely different tune. Everyone including me, tends to have an incorrect perception of what it entails to run a business, when it's one we have no experience running. That's just human nature, but does not give us the right to make blanket statements about labor.

[Urban Cowboy]

Around here that's what most of the TFW's are though oldtrucker, they are working in orchards.

I drink more coffee than I should, and I can't honestly say that I've come across any TFW's working at Starbuck's, or Timmy's, just for example. Don't eat out much but grabbing coffee at McD's drive through, I haven't seen any either, nor at A&W, so where are all these TFW's you speak of?

We have a healthy Filipino population here, but they aren't TFW's either.

The way you are talking I feel like I should be stumbling over truckloads of them daily.

[Snowbound]

Sorry to further derail this thread....I agree the TFW's deal needs to end.

I had friends that did tree planting back in university and it was all piece work. Some of those guys made a very good wage and the lazy ones did not. Many of them never lasted the whole season. They lived in tents out in the woods, not unlike today's pickers.

I see ads every week in the paper for pickers at $10.50/hr. Of course nobody is going to break their back for some pr!ck for minimum wage. Come up with a piece work rate that will actually attract Canadians - like the French kids that used to come out in droves. Lots of hard working kids out there would jump on these jobs and spend the summer in the beautiful Okanagan.

I sure would have when I was 19.....even if I had to camp in a tent all summer!

[Urban Cowboy]

Come up with a piece work rate that will actually attract Canadians - like the French kids that used to come out in droves. Lots of hard working kids out there would jump on these jobs and spend the summer in the beautiful Okanagan.

You mean like the ones who stopped and hit every welfare office on the trip out from Quebec? Those kids?

They don't come in droves anymore, because thanks to the digital age, it's virtually impossible to extract money from government when you aren't entitled to it. I'm thinking that's a good thing.

It would also be very informative, to see some figures as to how often police are called, to deal with an issue involving TFW's, as opposed to those French kids you were referring to, many of whom came to party their butts off all summer, and got into plenty of mischief.