Corporate landlords, real estate investment trusts and some local developers are no different than drug addicts. Premier Eby and the government made the mistake of naively assuming drug addicts would have a modicum of social awareness and not shoot up in the middle of busy downtown sidewalks or on playgrounds.
Federal, provincial, and municipal governments make the same naive mistake around the big development lobby. Real estate investment trusts and corporate landlords have only one guiding principle: greed. They will take advantage of finding any loophole to justify their addiction to profit. Of course, landlords need regulatory protection from negligent tenants, however, communities have very little protection from the development lobby. In fact, federal and provincial governments actually give tax breaks to real estate investment trusts.
Corporate landlords have now bought up over 60% of the real estate in Victoria and the Island. There is justifiable press around the plight of apartment dwellers being slapped with outrageous increases or evictions. What the public is not generally aware of is the development lobby is also snatching up commercial real estate.
Why are so many small businesses going under? Outrageous increases in rent or lease. Has it occurred to anybody, that perhaps one reason doctors do not set up practice in Victoria is the exorbitant cost of office space. From fixed-income renters to hard-working small business owners, to families in need of a doctor, we all suffer from the ravages that the corporate development lobby inflicts on our communities.
Andy Ruszel
Saanich
