the emerging world marked is eager for new talent. neave barker, al jazerra london london. a reminder that you can keep up-to-date with all the news on our website. there it is on your screen. the of course, address aljazerra.com. that's aljazerra.com. offensive. blame the rich foreigners, that is the ugly undercurrent of a growing debate over the affordable housing shortage plaguing many desirable cities.

the phrase is overly simplistic and xenophobic. there's no denying investigators from china, the middle east and elsewhere snapped up hundreds of billions of prime residential real estate in new york, san francisco, london, sydney, as much as 80% of properties have money. it's a trend that is pushing home prices up, and middle and low income families out of what some call super-star cities. fuelling the outrage is growing anger about ghost apartments purchased by wealthy buyers with no intention of living in them. some are investments, some are for children that may one day attend college. the "new york times" reported 30% of apartments in the upper side is uninhabited. an investigation showed this

year half of re-ceent buyers of military million condos in warner center is foreign. including russian billionaires using shell companies. rising income and a reason the cities are becoming unaffordable for anyone not rich. the website red fin announced someone with -- red finance announced that someone like a teacher could not afford a single home. and in vancouver, the price at which half of homes are sold for more, some for less. median prices were 10.6% higher than median incomes in vancouver, in 2014. 10.6. anything over four is considered seriously unaffordable. vancouver ranks second behind hong kong and ahead of san francisco, on a list of the world's most unaffordable cities. that is a reason why more than

20,000 people in vancouver signed an online petition demanding restrictions on foreign investors purchasing homes there. canadian politicians rejected that idea. efforts to gather data are gaining steam, including a website letting vancouver residents report to a city that a ghost lives next door. we have our report. >> reporter: people tell me this all the time. you are so smart. you are a great person, and, you know, you have a great life, but don't you feel like you are pedalling and pedalling and not getting forward. there's a psychological aspect of it that makes you thing you have done something wrong. >> jennifer saves money, but is barely holding on to her sky-high studio rental. >> it's 385 square feet. >> it's glorious square feet look at the view. >> it's gorgeous. >> despite having multiple

degrees and a research position she feels she can't compete against hundreds of millions worth of foreign capital pieing up vancouver property. >> i'm 37 living in a studio apartment without a car, and without any hope of actually saving up enough money for a down-payment to buy a house. >> reporter: she's not alone. hers is the story of a generation fighting for homes and markets where housing is seen as more of an investment vehicle than a human necessity. the price of an average home in this city is more than 1.4 million canadian dollars, 11% more than it was a year ago. suspicions amounting that too many of vancouver's newly constructed homes are unlived in because speculators are snatching them up, lured by double digits, making them empty profitable.

vancouver real estate rise coincides with a major demographic range. 25% of vancouver residents have asian heritage, more than any city outside of asia. the city's chinese population is expected to double in 15 years, making canadians of european dissent minorities. now people are pointing fingers at asian investors as the main source of property vacancies. >> in the city of vancouver, they are issuing an open call to residents, watch your neighbours, pay attention to comings and goings, if it seems the house is unoccupied, report it to the city. it will be added to a list. >> what i see at legitimate concern about foreign ownership not illegitimate. too often it drifts to genophobic concerns that we had history of. that certain ethnicities are part of the problem, and i don't

want to go there. i refuse to. >> the critics say city councilman are going there by allowing the list to be created as long as we treat housing as a penny stock. a lot of working folks will get burned. plans to assemble a list of unopened homes came to light in a memo. confirming the city's working with community groups to create a website through which "the public can report vacant homes in a coherent fashion." would you do that? >> i would definitely do it if i knew, if i saw a house that was unopened or condo that was unoccupied and i knew it was, for sure i would do it, if i knew the city was going to use that number in a positive way come in, take a look. >> it's amazing. >> look at this. >> how big is it? >> 5,800 square feet.

>> reporter: in the last five years edward significanting's company -- zang's company sold $500 million words of homes, to wealthy clients in china, he thinks it could easily sell for $11.88 million. >> lucky number. >> lucky number. >> for the chinese. >> reporter: is that right. >> yes, eight in cantonese means getting rich. >> reporter: edward says because china's currency is strengthening, business is up. [ singing ] >>. >> vancouver nose how to market itself to the chinese population. i talk to a lot of buyers, and they tell me that even though in asia, it's easy to make money, but so much easier to lose everything, because of the political situation. over here in canada, you don't get that.

>> david believes that global market. >> the relationship between housing prices and income is out of whack. >> how out of whack is it? >> if you just look at the ratio, it's the second most expensive city in the world. that is hong kong. >> relatively speaking vancouver is expensive as a place like new york. it shouldn't be, according to walk-smith, because it's not a global center. so-called command and control cities like new york, london or hong kong all have major financial exchanges, global corporations. strengthening local economies, and intensify demand for land. >> vancouver does not. >> if vancouver has a housing crisis, it's not because of vancouver's economy stops performing well. it's because chinese economy stops performing or a global matter occurs.

for people who live and work in prospect. >> they are in favour of it. he wants owners of unoccupied homes. to pay. the leaders say for now, they want to know how widespread the practice really is, so that to compel state and federal governments to act against the vacancy issue. >> we have to talk about housing as a right, not as a speculative privilege. when governments realise that is place. >> all that may be too late for jennifer. >> i think it's a hard thing. and i kind of get emotional when i talk about it. people in my demographic are leaving the city. the odds are against it. i made so many applications, that the last adaptation i'll make is to leave. and i honestly think that if something doesn't change quickly

in the next couple of years, i'm not going to stay any more geraldino joins me. this list, once it's formed, what is it the city wants to do with it. >> first of all, the names, the properties, are unoccupied. they plan to cross reference it with electricity, to see if it will sustain life. once they have that number, they say they will think about what happens next. >> this idea of developing lists and asking your neighbours to report on people, is there a chance that this list, when developed, could go public. >> that is what the city says it will not do. it's completely for their knowledge. if it goes public, the thought it would it be an attack list. that will not happen. knowledge is power or veiled threat. this is just for them to begin to understand whether this is, in fact, a problem.

>> what is it the fear, is it about property or the changing demographic of vap, that is going op for decades. the city councillor alluded to that, that vancouver had trouble over 100 years in dealing with ipp fluxes of ethnic groups. >> demographics is not going to change. they have a large asian population, in the next 15 years canadians of european descent will be the minority population. the biggest issue is what will happen to those that are will. can they afterward to live there. what is at stake is the survival of the city as a city, and now survive. >> that is the issue next - a man who says vancouver is not for sale, and says it's not just the chinese driving the price, it's chinese criminals. back in

2 minutes. >> it's not looking pretty. i gotta pay my bills. >> you gotta do somethin', you know? try to keep your head above water. >> sunday... $38. thursday... $36. for this kind of money i really don't give a s**t. >> a real look at the american dream. only on al jazeera america. >> part of our month long look at working in america. "hard earned".

a new petition in british

columbia to restrict foreign investment in vancouver's housing market. a response to soaring real estate prices which many blame on wealthy foreign buyers who the home. joining me is a man that does not mince words, saying foreign investment is hurting canadians. the founder of an organization called the cultural action party - brad, welcome to the show. you describe yourself as being against multicultural societyies, and against efforts to begin to collect data on unoccupied property. once the data is form what, will it show? >> it will add credence to the fact that a large percentage of these homes are foreign investor owned and are sitting empty and - because they - the purpose is simply real estate speculation, and the belief that in the growth of equity in the

property, and they'll make a tidy profit, flip the property at a later date, or hold on to it until they decide to leave their countries, and, you know, a lot of business in china are leaving for political, economic and environmental reasons, and they have a safety board overseas for their money. as exemplified by the president of china who issued a list of 100 chinese fugitives who fled china, 26 are in canada, and this would be a good example. they have taken their money out because the chinese government has cracked down on the criminals. they are parking their money in places like vancouver hold on. everything you described until you said criminals describes the same reason anyone would buy a house, speculation or they can

flip or lie in it. that applies to everyone. there should be no issue whether they are chinese or not. your implication is it's chinese vancouver? >> no, it's a combination, but it's a known fact that a certain component of the these people are criminals, the chinese government says so themselves themselves, it's not coming from me, it's coming from the state government of china. >> 26 people is not causing the housing market in vancouver to heat up the way it's heating up. >> no, but it's pointed to the example of motivation to leave china, which is the government crackdown on this money. no one says it's a... home? >> yes. >> do you know why i would have bought my home? >> of course i don't. >> right. >> i don't know you. >> what difference does the motivation make as to why anyone

buys a property? >> the difference is the impact on local residence, canadian citizens, second generation canadians, canadians that represent, who don't own their own home, young couples that are looking to get into the market, and they can't largely due to the fact that rich foreign investors are buying up the properties, creating a situation where there's multiple bids - 10-15 beside on a property, and in some cases overbidding above the asking price by millions of dollars. local vancouver its, canadians -- vancouver its cannot compete. a city that used to exist, be affordable and liveable for canadian citizens for that purpose turned into a giant international monopoly game. >> what do you try to do. do you want people not to buy

homes in vancouver, if they are not canadians, or not to buy it if they are chinese, once you get the information, what would you like to see changed? >> i would like to see a combination of two things - what australia has implemented with a system of taxation and fees for applications to buy real estate from out of the country. vancouver has a situation whereby - transit problems where a million people will move to the city over 30 years, the government wants to implement a tax to pay for the transit expansion. well, if they do what australia does, with the fees and a tax, they'll have australia going to take in over 700 million over four year period. that will pay for the transit upgrades that are needed in vancouver, and we won't have to tax people a crept.

>> vancouver is a beautiful there. would you be okay if the million people moving to vancouver were white people? >> this is not about that at all. you know, people keep bringing this up, okay. the fact is the source of the issue, the source of the money is from a specific country. okay. largely and statistics show that, there's tangible evidence of that. therefore, the focus is on that particular nation. if that particular nation had to be, for example, brazil. then the focus would be on brazil. so your accusation were misgayed guided. >> it's not an accusation, anti-multiculturalist. >> that is true. because in canada - first of all, canada is one of two nations in the world that has constitutional multiculturalism as in multicultural policy entrenched in constitution.

and the mandate is to provide funds to multicultural organizations to promote ethnicity. after 30-40 years of mass immigration, and capital having the highest per capita immigration in the world, okay, that what has happened is that basically canadian taxpayers are funding the demise of their own traditional identity. so our situation is unique, save australia to some degree. no other country has a policy where their taxpayers are paying for their cultural demise. thank you for joining me. brad an activist and founder of the cultural activist party i.s.i.l. is founded and taking over a city 60 mills from baghdad. can the iraqi army beat i.s.i.l. without u.s. troops. i'll be back in 2 minutes.

>> my name is imran garda the show is called third rail, when you watch this show you're gonna find us being un-afraid. the topics will fascinate you, intrigue you... >> they take this seriously... >> let me quote you... >> there's a double standard... >>...could be a hypocrite >> you're also gonna get a show that's really fair bold... never predictable... >> the should be worried about heart disease, not terrorism... >> i wouldn't say that at all... >> you'll see a show that has an impact on the conventional wisdom that goes where nobody else goes... >> my name is imran garda i am the host of third rail and you can find it on al jazeera america

just 60 miles wests of baghdad sits the iraqi city of ramadi, as of this hour, it is controlled by i.s.i.l., an i.s.i.l. onslaught forced security forces into a chaotic retreat over the weekend. the latest fighting displacing 6500 families in the area, according to the united nations. iraqi officials are not admitting defeat. we have a report on how iraq is preparing to take back ramadi. >> they were caught in the crossfire and have no place to go. according to the international organisation of migration 8,000 were forced to leave ramadi when fighters from islamic state of iraq and levant advanced into their city.

people who headed towards baghdad are being questioned before being allowed to enter the iraqi capital. authorities want to make sure no fighters make it into the city. >> translation: why aren't we allowed to go to baghdad. are not we in the same country. it's better to die than lead this life. >> reporter: anger authorities the shia led government runs deep in the mainly sunni province of anbar. there's a feeling among people that they have been betrayed. >> we spent two days on the roads, we were humiliated at government checkpoints. we can't understand how security forces retreated and withdrew from ramadi. >> the land belongs to i.s.i.l. at least for now. the video was released from the group. the provincial capital of anbar seems to have been abandoned after an offensive pushed government forces outside.

according to government officials up to 500 security personnel and civilians were killed either in the fighting while others who worked for the government were murdered by i.s.i.l. >> now the shia militias are ready to launch a counteroffensive against i.s.i.l. in ramadi, acting under the government sanctioned mobilization forces. they were responsible for pushing i.s.i.l. from some areas. they are accused of human rights abuses and many have not returned to their homes. >> in ramadi the regular army and the local police were no match for i.s.i.l. many were seen escaping from the city. many sunni leaders are blaming the government for the fall of this city. >> right now we have few options on the ground. the best is to train an armed local tribes. the only group operating under the command of the prime minister is a shia militia coalition.

that will alienate sunni tribes. some said they would consider their involvement an iranian occupation of their province, there is concern. >> it's a sunni area, there's an ethnic dispute definitely. it's gone about 10 years. and there will be a clash between the tribes and the shia militia. ramadi was i.s.i.l.'s first major gain after a series of defeats. the united states which leads the coalition against i.s.i.l. insists it is confident that ramadi will be recaptured. that may happen, but winning the political battle could be harder. in recaptured territories there's little or no reconciliation between the shi'ites and the sunnis. kevon baron is the executive editor of "defence one", covering defense and national security in the united states.

renewed military involvement in iraq four years after u.s. troops withdrew from the country. kevin says the fall of ramadi is a small setback for the iraq government and insists u.s. strategy of coordinated air strikes and advisors is helping iraqi troops roll back i.s.i.l. gains. kevin joins me from washington. good to see you. how can you possibly maintain this perspective when the guys are in a city in ramadi, 60 miles from baghdad, and it was troops on an actual iraqi base, and they got out, they went away. >> i didn't say this was a small setback, i said the pentagon things that the setback was something they expected to be part of a much larger, longer war against i.s.i.s. in iraq and across the region. if a city falls, it might

happen. it's indicative of the strategy, and like it or not, the administration is doing anything it can to make the region fight its own war. it smells like that there are two issues, one is whether the region can fight its own war. let's put that aside. the second is what we hear from the administration, defense department officials, iraqis and the white house about how i.s.i.l. is on the run in iraq. it doesn't seem like a group on the run. the metrics depending on the users, the bombings, offenses the way that i.s.i.s. moves. take a longer picture of this, a longer picture. a city can fall and things can come one way or the other. in the longer run the pentagon says they have done plenty to degrade the organization. it's a 30 year fight against organization.

kevin baron, editor of "defense one. that is our show for today. i'm ali velshi, thank you for joining us. night. when the great recession struck in 2007 and 2008, it had a devastating impact on the economy. millions of families are making less money now than there were then, and millions of others scraping by in permanently low-paying jobs. did too many jobs fail to pay a living wage. it's