Supply and Demand for Buildings

If only we could easily convert one type of building to another.

Yesterday afternoon as I was bringing all the various pieces of garbage and recycling to the curb for today's pick-up, a woman walked by holding some leaflets. I think they were from Re-Max.

"Thinking of selling?" she asked hopefully.
"No" I replied succinctly.

She moved on.

I don't know if she was asking the same question of everyone she passed or if she was targeting those prospects she thought looked most promising. Like folks with grey hair, canes or walkers or scooters or wheelchairs, for example? Maybe, although I'd only qualify on the first of those criteria.

More likely, I think, she was keeping an eye out for anyone putting out a lot of garbage. Quite often we only have one garbage can out there. But this time we had some extra junk out there, stuff we had found under the basement steps (see other entries from the past week or so) and wondered why on earth it hadn't gotten thrown out before now. Hunting for a skittish cat does motivate one to get rid of unwanted items!

Apparently the housing market is red hot at the moment. Houses are selling in record time, often for far more than the original asking price. Buyers want more room - room for each family member to self-isolate, room to set up home offices, home classrooms, home playrooms. But those who already have as much space as they need - like us - are planning to stay put.

Meanwhile, down in the downtown core and out in the outskirts, office buildings are lying empty. Restaurants, retail establishments and other businesses cannot do enough trade to keep the lights on.

It's not so bad for those of us with stable adequate incomes and stable adequate lives in general. Much more serious for those who are under-resourced and under-housed - or completely homeless.

I'd like to think we could overcome the frictions involved in repurposing buildings and identify some creative solutions here.