Vancouver Receives Mixed Report Card

"The Vancouver Foundation today releases Vital Signs 2006, a report card that rates the Greater Vancouver's performance in 12 key indicators of livability, and it finds us wanting in our treatment of our poor, our new immigrants, and the affordability of our housing.

"While Vancouver usually shows very well in livability surveys -- we were named the most livable city by The Economist in 2005 -- the panel handed out some startling grades. We received a D+ in Housing: It's too expensive for those who can pay and leaves few palatable options for those who can't, said the panel. The ratio of house prices to median income, one of many statistical measures employed by Vital Signs, rates Vancouver as 'severely unaffordable.'

"The Gap Between Rich and Poor garnered only a C- for Vancouver: Nearly one in five people in this city lives below the Low-Income Cut-off (LICO), a formula used by the federal government to measure poverty. The foundation's polling found that alleviating poverty is a top priority for people who live in Vancouver.

"Even though the Vancouver Foundation is the biggest community philanthropic organization in Canada, [President and CEO Faye] Wightman said, 'there's no way we alone can address this issue.'