Engaging the Chinese diaspora on WeChat and beyond

The lack of affordable housing is a crisis around the world, from the United States to Canada to China to the United Arab Emirates. Data from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation shows that average rents in Toronto have increased roughly 72% from 2001 to 2021 while median family income has gone up by only 33%. This discrepancy between income growth and rent prices is reflected in many cities in North America such as New York City, as well as beyond: Beijing and Abu Dhabi were named the two most expensive global cities for renting in 2016 by Global Cities Business Alliance. The UN has assigned Special Rapporteurs to address this worldwide problem, who have concluded that a large contributing factor to this crisis is the financialization of housing. This aspect of the affordable housing crisis is often missed in policies and strategies aimed at alleviating the problem. Popular understanding of the housing crisis argues that the problem can be addressed by providing more supply: by building more houses and apartments. In reality, the financialization of housing, one of the key drivers of unaffordable housing, is a problem inherently caused by the market. As such, it cannot be solved by market solutions.

On November 8th, 2022, US House Representative Barbara Lee was reelected in California’s 13th district, which covers Oakland and parts of the East Bay area. In 2021, Representative Lee introduced H.R.3518, a bill that calls for the federal government to provide aid and assistance to people affected by exposure to Agent Orange during the period of US war in Vietnam.

Our mothers, our mothers. I told my friend once that no one breaks our hearts like our mothers. I’m sure my mother would say no one breaks her heart like me. Is there any other relationship so full of expectations and dreams and disappointments? If there is, I do not think I want to know. I write this article thinking of my mother, trying to respect her in my own way. I give her first look and veto powers for this essay, and I hope that is enough for her to not look at me with that frown of disapproval. Why reveal so much of yourself, I can already hear her saying. Why reveal so much of Us? Why do I want to expose my pain and hurt and anger to the world?