The North Shore, along with the entire Lower Mainland, is in the midst of a real estate boom of epic proportions. Property is being sold faster and for higher prices than ever before. It’s making some very rich while driving others with roots in our communities away. It’s transforming the neighbourhoods we knew at a rapid rate.
Those who’ve been “priced out” of their communities and those who are seeing their neighbourhood character demolished are telling government they are in a housing crisis. But leaders at all levels have been slow to react. Traditionally, an individual’s home is their castle, as well as their largest investment. Politicians tread warily into that fortress. The real estate market has also provided an economic boon to B.C. that government is loath to slow down.
But the system we have is clearly not working. Real estate is about more than making money. It’s also about where people live and how they integrate into a community.
A number of realistic proposals have been made that could cool the market and promote homes as places to live rather than objects in which to park capital. It’s past time the province paid attention.
Similarly, in our neighbourhoods, government could do more to help those under siege from an onslaught of massive-scale construction that is erasing the quality of life they knew.
Is a hollowed-out super-sized enclave of the wealthy, ensconced behind their gated driveways, really what we’re aiming for?
If not, there is much the government could do if they’d care to take their heads out of the sand. They’ve just got to want to.
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