&gt; The few tech companies in vancouver don&#x27;t pay.<p>The tech companies in Vancouver haven&#x27;t increased pay in step with skyrocketing housing. If you can find data on employee pay in the tech industry (good luck) you&#x27;d find it&#x27;d be fairly consistent. Compared to housing prices in Vancouver, you&#x27;d likely be looking at hockey stick growth. That&#x27;s the disconnect.<p>If Hootsuite paid minimum wage, but cost-to-live was free, then it&#x27;s a really good deal for developers.<p>Besides, you&#x27;re ignoring the rest of the local economy. Tech is only a small part, and fixing it for one small sector isn&#x27;t going to do much on a macro scale.