The San Francisco Chronicle defines it as such: “Doom loop (noun) — A scenario in which one negative development causes another negative development, which then makes the first problem worse. A vicious cycle.”

They would know. The term has become a succinct way of summing up San Francisco’s rapid downward spiral, where problems including high crime, soaring homelessness, exorbitant real estate, widespread drug use, crumbling transit, empty offices and businesses fleeing the area feed into one another, making each other worse and worse with no end in sight.

Canadian cities from Vancouver to Toronto, and even Saint John, should take note as similar problems begin to plague their urban centres and exacerbate one another, forming the beginnings of their own doom loops.

Like San Francisco, Canadian cities’ decline began with the hollowing out of their middle classes. As downtowns continue to divide sharply into extreme haves and have nots, the pace and intensity of this decline accelerates.

To avoid what increasingly looks like San Francisco’s doomed fate, Canadian politicians must address the root of the problem and stop the middle class’ exodus from cities. The only way to do this is by restoring affordability to the housing market.

San Francisco and the Bay Area are home to many of not just America’s, but the world’s, wealthiest companies and witnessed one of the most rapid real estate price escalations on the continent. The urban area counts 285,000 millionaires, 629 centi-millionaires and 63 billionaires — the highest number of any U.S. city.

However, it also has the highest income inequality in the country, and just eight households have more wealth than the bottom 50 per cent of its population put together. One per cent of the population, totalling approximately 38,000 residents, are homeless — a staggering number in contrast to an average of 0.2 per cent across America.

Middle-class families have been fleeing the city for years thanks to its unaffordability and, in particular, lack of middle-income housing. Teachers left in droves when they could no longer afford homes, and so did other essential workers like nurses.

The ones who remain find themselves squeezed to the limit. Just one disturbing statistic: 33 per cent of Daily Bread Food Bank users work full-time jobs.

While the destruction of the middle class in Canadian cities has become near impossible to ignore over the last several years, in reality, it’s been happening for well over a decade. The only question now is whether we can prevent a prolonged doom loop from taking hold.

A disappearing middle class directly ties into almost every other crisis downtowns face. Obvious consequences include homelessness, drug abuse and crime. Brain drain and labour shortages in key sectors follow. These then spur broader economic decline, empty downtown cores and transit cuts. Repeat the cycle.

While perhaps the U.S. can still thrive without a healthy San Francisco, it’s harder to make the case that Canada still thrives if Vancouver and Toronto, or a combination of other major economic engines, fail. Here, it’s easy to imagine localized doom loops become sweeping doom vortexes.

We must stop the cycle by protecting what’s left of the middle class in Canadian cities and their surrounding areas across the country— and that starts with fixing housing.

National Post