Race and real estate: Chinese Canadians sound off about stereotypes and prejudice

As the debate over rising real estate prices and housing unaffordability continues in Metro Vancouver, some in the Chinese Canadian community say they feel unfairly targeted as the root of the problem.

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They say when people generally speak about foreign investment in Metro Vancouver real estate,they tend to lump all Chinese people in the same category as wealthy foreigners driving up the cost of housing for locals.

They saythat is simply not true.

Urban planner and researcherAndyYanconducts a monthly call-in show on Fairchild radio in Mandarin and Cantonese.

Yan, whose own grandfather paid the head tax to get into Canada, says Chinese Canadians have their own stories to tell about not being able to afford housing, but that narrative has not been told.

The callers on Fairchild radio share their stories of struggling withthe cost of housing in Metro Vancouver, and vent anger around issues of foreign investment in real estate.

"A lot of it [calls]is frankly outrage," saidYan.

"It's a complete and total outrage in terms of inequality. It is complete and total outrage in terms of fairness, in terms of transparency."

Hesaid the Chinese communityblames speculators for sky-high housing prices.

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Research called racist

Yanhaspersonal experience with racism and real estate. In 2015, Yanpublished research that found that two-thirds of expensive home sales at the time, on the city's west side, went to people with non-Anglicized Chinese first names.

Vancouver MayorGregorRobertson said Yan's research had racist overtones.

Yanwould like to see a more nuanced approach to stories about real estate and foreign investment in the market.

"I don't like the idea of constantly portraying one group as victims and then and the other group as agents. So if you will, like some people blaming the ultra rich folks as the agents of residentialunaffordabilityin Vancouver.

"And yet the other side of the group says well there are perpetual victims."

PamZhao, 28,is a wealthy Chinese Canadian who was once a foreigner.

Zhaoand her business partnerWeymiChowere former cast membersof the online reality web seriesUltra Rich Asian Girls.

She feels that because her family came to Canada under the immigrant investor program and hasmoney, she is treated differently and viewed as the part of the reason why there's a housing affordability problem.

"The stereotype isalways going to be there," saidZhao, who runs a floral shop in Point Grey.

Zhaosaid some people make off-the-cuff remarks about her wealth,others assumethat she would not need to work for a living.

"Even when I'm taking a cab to downtown and sometimes [the] driver talks to me...and then he would actually be like 'ohyou're Chinese taking a cab, youmust be rich.'

"Now I was like where doesthat come from? Maybe Idrank today and Ihave to take a cab or something like that."

Zhao whose family arrived in Canada when she was 12 years-old described an incidentwhere someone spit on her friend's highend luxury car as the two watched from a restaurantpatio in downtown Vancouver.

"What can you do?," saidZhaowhen asked about her response to the incident.

She understands thefrustration people feel about the high cost ofliving in the city, but feels the anger is misdirected and instead, people should focus on solutions to the housing crisis.

ZhaoandChoare no longer on the show and now run their business full time.

"Alot of timesyou're being misjudged," saidWeymiCho.

"Even for this first flower shop like we do pretty much do everything .... and a lot of people are like 'youdon't need to work for money' andsecond off 'oh you're lucky you have a flower shop...'They think like we're just sitting here and have a cup of tea."

While there isevidence that non-residents make up a sizeable portion of certain housing markets in the region, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) estimates thatnon-residents own less than 5 per cent of all residential properties in Metro Vancouver.

"Blaming foreigners blaming the Chinese is actually a red herring," said historian Henry Yu.

"In other words it misleads us to think that if we just stopped Chinese from coming, if we stop them from buying or we made it more expensive for them to buy,we'd be all okay.

It's like actually, you're trying to solve the wrong problem."

In CBC's original podcast called SOLD! Yu describes along history of racial scapegoatingin B.C.