Dear Editor:
In response to letters from Blaine Barden, Redevelopment Invigorates Edgemont, Mailbox June 29, regarding development in Edgemont and Jas Derham-Reid, Lack of Affordable Housing a Reality for ‘People Like Us,’ Mailbox July 1, regarding housing prices:
I agree with Mr. Barden about the need for incorporating seniors’ housing in our neighbourhoods, however, comments about development at Edgemont omit mention of the disappearance of small, independent businesses that provided services to the community.
And while a slick new multi-residence may spruce up Edgemont, it will be at the cost of the ambience and livability that attracted people to the North Shore and to the disappearing neighbourhoods that brought character and individuality to the communities across the North Shore. It’s already happened in Vancouver on south Granville and in Ambleside in West Vancouver, to name only two examples.
As Jas Derham-Reid notes, the concepts of affordable housing and livability are not factors in this frenzied real estate market, driven by rapacious realtors and developers, abetted by lax legislation and municipal governments who count revenue as the sole criterion for measuring quality of life.
The “people like you” comment noted by Derham-Reid describes the people who built the communities we enjoy today and illustrates the thuggish behaviour of some realtors who manipulate the market and push legal boundaries to further their own ends.
As one North Vancouver resident noted to local government representatives at a recent public meeting on housing and heritage, “your job is to work for us, and to help us.”
If the sole asset is a house, and it’s worth whatever this extreme market will bear, the sole option available is to sell.
Where the sellers will live, and where their children will live if they can’t afford to participate in this feeding frenzy (even after selling that one asset) are not factored into the planning our governments, at every level, should be doing on behalf of constituents.
To say this is reality and “to suck it up” seems to be the go-to response from the people elected to represent our interests – at least those who choose not to see beyond the dollar to the non-measurable factors that are essential to a livable community.
Laura Anderson
West Vancouver
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