I heard on CBC radio today that the average cost of a house in Fort McMurray is $492,000 and that the majority of the homeless are oilfield workers. There is a meeting in the city today on what to do about the problem and the woman heading up the task force says she doesn't believe the oil companies are to blame. So who is to blame? Homelessness is a problem of gigantic proportion, it's on the top 10 list of things developed nations need to be ashamed of. People who work up here aren't making 'average' wages and yet that's the big draw to get people here. And people are coming from all over the world to reap the benefits. I think I mentioned once that The Fort is a multicultural mecca. Taxi drivers are mainly African, I see Muslim women shopping at Wal Mart wearing burkhas, there are Filipino nannies at the Hub taking care of somebody's children, I even see rich white women at the grocery store with their nannies taking care of the children while they shop. A woman I met yesterday told me that if I planned on moving here that I should buy now because prices are still going up and that the population is supposed to double in 5 years. She told me her house increased in value by $200,000 since she bought 3 years ago. The whole salary issue is misleading though for people who move out here and aren't even able to find affordable housing. So who is responsible for affordable housing? Maybe it's the government then. In my limited experience in Alberta, one of the biggest problems this province has is the lack of rent control. I saw this same thing 5 years ago in Cold Lake. If you buy a house here to rent out as an income property you at least want to make sure you have your mortgage covered, right. Or if you are trying to sell a property you also want to make sure you get fair market value. And that's what sets the bar. Maybe the problem is that the market value just isn't fair. A house like ours in Cole Harbour, minus the property, would cost you at least $350,000 here. And speaking of averages, the oil executives homes are not selling for $492,000, they are worth at least a million. But if you aren't providing the basics for your employees to live and have what in this country is supposed to be a basic right, then doesn't that classify as slave labour? And why would we want to pay double or even triple for a house that's only worth around $150,000. Just so that I can see if I can double or triple my money in 5 years time? Is that even possible? I don't believe it is. The resource is supposed to be unlimited but nothing lasts forever, especially at the rate at which we are consuming it. Plenty of things in history, even recent history, that were supposed to continue to increase in value have crashed unexpectedly. It's not that I'm less optimistic or anything, I think the reality is that the more we have the more we use which means that everything has a lifespan. And at some point someone is going to have to take responsibility for the fact that a person earning anywhere from $30,000 to $60,000 a year can't afford to put a roof over their head.