673;
Good morning my friend, I hope you're all getting slightly cleared skies up there and the family are all well.
As you know I've got 3 immediate family members in construction, though admittedly 2 of them are in a company that makes bridges, hospitals, schools, mines, etc. as well as housing.
There was a shortage of labor down here that began to be noticeable and the topic of discussion even back when our girls were still in high school so we'll say a dozen years ago at least.
Part of that shortage of labor here has always been connected with the high cost of living which includes a lack of affordable rental housing or even houses to purchase.
That said, whenever there's been a development purported to supply "affordable" housing, it's turned out to be aimed at upper middle income brackets. That was the case when I was working for a construction and development company from 2014 to early 2019.
Perhaps partially due to low interest rates and the human proclivity to desire more and better even if it's unrealistic, the houses always ended up being a "McMansion" to a greater degree. The few that weren't didn't sell quick enough so the developer was getting the desired return on their investment.
Then we started seeing the fentanyl OD mess, which in and of itself doesn't tell us much other than now we're losing 6 people a day. The stats I found on it, which I think are likely somewhat suspect but regardless indicate that 5 of those will be men between the age of 20 and 59. My gut and not much else believes that the 59 year olds are outliers and it's closer to 20 to early 40's.
In a normal well functioning society, they'd be the candidates for labor jobs, both skilled and unskilled.
The big question, unanswered by the legacy media and all political parties is why such a sizable swath of our young men are more inclined towards a life of homeless hopelessness rather than becoming productive members of society.
Lastly, I'll agree with you 100% that all parties are using this as yet another wedge issue and attempting to spin it to their advantage.
Anyways, as always that's just a few thoughts on it from my perspective and nothing more.
All the best to you all and good hunting.
Dwayne
