I’m not interested in the value of my home. I chose what was semi-rural because I don’t need amenities many younger people demand.
My parents’ families had 3-5 kids, their parents had 10, so why can’t we find enough homes for the 2.3 average birth rate? It doesn’t help when Canada allows more than 200,000 newcomers a year while many long-established Canadians have been waiting longer as well as new immigrants stuck in government delays due to backlogs.
The immigrant investor program allows wealthy foreigners to arrive with one family member to live in a mansion, avoiding taxes. We don’t chastise fellow Canadians for contributing to our housing problems, but we think a speculation tax will suffice. Many want to live here, there’s no stopping it, and densification isn’t working. Government can’t stop rising house values, some have slowed it but Canada’s government epitomizes Robin Hood, albeit they steal from the rich and poor.
Offshore investors started B.C.’s housing issues after Expo 86, which has a ripple effect in this province. Realtors got their families and developers involved, and no matter how many homes are built, the demand will never stop nor get affordable in most of Canada. Most choose urban over rural areas, and many cities around the world have seen nothing but unmanageable growth.
Mr. Smith is correct in cutting red tape for our slow-moving, three-tiered government, but most workers involved in home construction are grossly overpaid. Add the cost of materials, which only gets lower in a glut supply. This is not possible with constant growth. Make or grow your own food, drive an older vehicle, buy used, and don’t plan that family or future pet until you have a place to raise them. If all else fails, move to a country where things are more affordable, and you can watch the whole cycle of past failed affordable housing attempts reiterate itself, while you wonder what went wrong in the country you just left.
Stuart Walker
Central Saanich
