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In most places, to be homeless means also to be jobless. But Vancouver has a different problem: housing in the Canadian city is so overpriced that even wellpaid construction workers and tradespeople are living in illegal settlements, such as under elevated train tracks.
Mike Diddy works as a drywaller, building an apartment tower where condominium prices start at Can$ 500,000 (about €330,000). He lives in a converted school bus because he says he can’t afford monthly rents of nearly Can$ 2,000 for a onebedroom apartment. “For me to get a place I’d want to be [living in], I would have to have two or three roommates and we probably wouldn’t get along at the end of it,” Diddy told Maclean’s magazine.
City officials mainly ignore the illegal campers, unless there are complaints. That was the case when a local business reported that someone had been stealing power by running an extension cord from a motorhome parked on the street to the firm’s outdoor socket.
Diddy doesn’t need to steal power, though. The 38yearold uses two marine batteries to provide electricity on the bus. “They last forever — as long as I’m not blending margaritas,” he comments. blend , etw. sth. mixen [blend] condominium [)kqnde(miniem] , Eigentums wohnung N. Am. converted , umgebaut [ken(v§:tid] drywaller [(draiwo:le] N. Am. , Trockenbauer(in) elevated [(eliveitid] , erhöht get along [)get E(LQN] , (miteinander) auskommen, sich verstehen homeless [(heumles] , obdachlos housing , marine [me)ri:n Wohnraum, Schiffsbatterie battery [(hauzin] (bäteri] Wohnungen , motorhome [(MEUTEHEUM] , Wohnmobil roommate [(ru:mmeit] , Mitbewohner(in) run an extension cord [)rvn En Ik(stens&n ko:d] , ein Verlängerungs kabel verlegen socket [(sqkit] , Steckdose