Vancouver Question for a newbie..

[lookingforcanada]

Hi everyone,
so this is only my second post - I have been trawling through your Forum's reading through all the posts and answers and its great thank you !
One thing I wanted to ask which I cannot seem to find so far is about Vancouver, is it a safe place for a young family to live ? I dont think we could afford Vancouver city itself but we have been looking on the southern outskits ? Any help/tips /advice please or if this has already been asked would someone be really kind and point me in the right direction ?
Thank you
Jo

[WestCoastCanadianGirl]

What part(s) of Metro Vancouver are you considering?

I'd say that for the most part it's a safe place to live (I grew up in North Delta, a bedroom community that is at the south end of the Alex Fraser Bridge and about 25km north of the Canada/US border), but housing prices are still going to be quite expensive, even if you look east of the city towards Langley/Pit Meadows/Maple Ridge.

[Oggy]

Hi Jo

I've always liked the White Rock area, but it could be quite pricey too. I'd like to give you more feedback, but I haven't lived on the coast for quite some time and I'm sure things have changed since then.

I can offer a link that might help you in getting a feel for the different communities of the Lower Mainland ...

Regions & Towns Guide - Vancouver, Coast & Mnts - BritishColumbia.com


There's a Yahoo group called "Brits to Vancouver" that you might find helpful too ...

Brits2Vancouver : Brits to Vancouver!


Good luck!

[IHateTaxis]

Hi. Vancouver and its surrounding cities are all safe for families.
Roberta

[Kiakaha_Chch]

Ive been considering this too. I just moved to Vancouver and Id love to raise a family here and when my husband took me around the Langley area I just fell in love with the place, but we will probably start looking for a place in Burnaby so my husbands commute won't to too long..

[iancollett]

@LookingforCanada (Jo), we've been here two years, moving from the UK. Vancouver has some great family areas, we don't know them all. What we did was get a BIG map of Vancouver, greater Vancouver and drove to some of the areas to get a feel for the area and what it would be like for our kids. This includes access to transit, parks, schools (the biggie for catchment areas) and ethnic mix (although Canada is a great multicultural society some areas have a majority of one ethnic group, and therefore the schools as an example). Is it safe? - well compared to UK it seems there's more gang crime and they do shoot one another in broad daylight but it's targetted and not the wild west! - but it does freak you out a bit depending on where you come from in England. Else crime seems less, Vancouver is a city though and there is crime, the burbs are pretty quiet, you don't get teenagers hanging around 7-11 for alcohol for sure (you can't buy it there or any supermarket!). House prices will probably be your main influencer. Look on the mls (mls.ca); one of the new options lets you draw a map and search for property types in that area. For renting look at craigslist.ca for an idea- not so user friendly. We looked at Deep Cove, Port Moody, Coquitlam. These are NE, and East of Vancouver, but you have the West Coast Express for transit from the Tri-Cities (Port Moody, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam). Good luck (p.s. the North Shore mountains look beautiful this morning, the sun is shining at last!)