British Columbia

Sounds like you need a new job -- at $29/hour you're making about $55k/year, while the average Canadian income is $67k/year. Funnily, in 2022 you'd have been making average. The big spike upwards between 2022 and 2024 (where the $67k is from) was largely government and union workers getting significant bumps -- while in the past, public sector was lower pay in exchange for job security, it now beats private sector gigs in most ways. Under Trudeau/provincial NDP govt, more than 1/5 workers are public sector workers, skewing the salary averages. In Vancouver specifically, the average salary is closer to $72k if I recall right. Edit for context/evidence: bus drivers in Vancouver start at $29/hour, increasing to ~$40/hour (~80k/year) based on seniority, and require no specific educational background. So a 20 year old kid that becomes a bus driver is making as much as you today, and will be earning far more than you in a couple years.

So to your "I'm doing better than most", no, you're not -- you're earning about ~20% less than the average person. Also, most/many people who are buying properties are dual-income family units -- you're behind on that front as well, as a single-income person. Compared to other potential home buyers, you earn far less than half what they can put up for their income numbers ($120k-$150k for average dual income buyers). Also, as a single-income person, you're saying you have a two bedroom place -- so you're paying for more space than a single person theoretically needs.

My guess is that you haven't really tried to aggressively find other employment/work over the past 10-20 years, and you have an employer that gives you piddly increases that don't keep up with cpi. It's just a guess, obviously, since I don't know your specific situation -- but a statement like finding a better job has been impossible for you, is unlikely/improbable, especially without more context.