By Cheryl Jahn

City plays off cost of living in Vancouver

Aug 12, 2025 | 2:55 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Most people know housing in Vancouver is expensive. But in the most recent report from Chapman University’s Centre for Demographics and Policy shows just how expensive it is.

The report has been compiled for the past 21 years, looking at housing affordability in 95 cities in eight countries, including Canada. And for the first time in more than two decades, none of the 95 communities under the microscope has qualified as affordable. In fact, Vancouver has been rated as the fourth least affordable place in those eight countries.

The City of Prince George has actively been pursuing transplants with programs such as Move Up Prince George, which highlights the amenities of moving to this community. The program has met with success, promoting a lifestyle.

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“Then when housing prices in Vancouver went up to a million and ours stayed at or below half that, we were able to really sell a lifestyle to people who are looking for jobs and trying to start families and careers,” says Deklan Corstanje, the City of Prince George’s Manager of Economic Development.

The program has been such a success, the City recently launched a new campaign.

“We’ve run it on various platforms. Online and with Google, Facebook, andInstagram. We’ve done poster ads in the Vancouver Skytrain during the Taylor Swift concert, for example. Anything to get eyes on Prince George.”

But there is some concern, especially by the BC Conservative Party, that thousands of BC residents are leaving the province due to the cost of housing, though the City of Prince George hasn’t seen it here yet.

“Our largest source community of in-migration to Prince George is Vancouver and it varies year to year depending on different circumstances. But we also get folks from Edmonton and Calgary, Red Deer, coming to Prince George as well. So we haven’t seen a huge amount of out-migration, that mass exodus that Vancouver might be seeing.”