Cancensus
Two days ago I gave an example using the new (to CensusMapper) 2001 census data to mix with 2006 data on a common geography based on dissemination areas. A question came up if this works for several censuses, not just for two. Yes, the TongFen package was built with exactly that in mind. Time for a quick demo.
For this we will look at the households spending between 30% and 100% of income on housing in the City of Toronto.
CensusMapper now has 2001 census data, the changes are live and functional and available for mapping and via the data API. We ran some basic verification of the import, and set the metadata for the variables. There may still be some quirks in need of getting ironed out, feedback is appreciated if anyone finds anything that does not look right.
At the same time we finally updated my TongFen package to also include DA level TongFen out of the box, in addition to the CT level that has been working for a while.
District wide enrolment in VSB schools has been on a steady decline for over a decade. At the same time there are areas within the VSB that have seen strong growth in children requiring new schools to get built.
Looking at a couple of time series for the VSB District we can see where the problem lies. The children aged 5-17 living in the VSB District is estimated by BC Stats based on a number of data sources, and the number has been declining over the years.
(Joint with Nathan Lauster and cross-posted at HomeFreeSociology)
BC has introduced the Speculation and Vacancy Tax and instructions for filling out the declarations are in the mail. The tax targets homes in major urban centres that are left empty, or that are owned by “foreign and domestic speculators” that “don’t pay [income] taxes” in BC. The tax rate is 0.5% of the assessed value in 2018. From 2019 onward rates increase to 2% for foreigners (not permanent residents nor Canadian citizens) as well as citizens or permanent residents that are deemed members of “satellite families.
When we (Denis and Jens) got together for coffee the other day, Denis showed off some maps of renter density in the frequent transit network that he was working on. The idea immediately clicked and we decided to work this out together. Motivated by the issue of renter demoviction caused by the 2017 Metrotown Plan, we set out to quantify how one could plan for displacement on a regional level, instead of treating it as an unwelcome consequence of development at the lot level.
