Dear Editor:
Previously in West Vancouver, many generations were able to stay here and remain a family unit in their familiar little villages of Dundarave, Ambleside and others.
Recently it was announced in the media that it would take an annual income of $392,000 a year to buy a house in West Vancouver, so it is unlikely that children of West Van parents will be buying anything in West Vancouver, which is becoming an exclusive community for the rich and famous.
My two children and their families don’t live in West Vancouver and they indicated that many of their West Van schoolmates also live somewhere else, for the same reason — lack of affordable housing — so when Halloween comes around, I no longer do the rounds with the next generations; pretty sad, I think.
The Canadian government keeps questioning why young Canadians are taking on so much debt. I think I know the answer if they don’t.
So how does a community like West Vancouver sustain itself in the long term, if each generation has to move out? Eventually West Van could become a community of old people, and foreign-owned empty houses. When I look at churches in West Van — for example, the United Church and the Anglicans — I see the average age of members is over 70, and very few young families in the congregation. In 30 years these churches may no longer exist.
Churches will be affected, schools will lack children and the whole community will become less enduring and vibrant. Hillside school closed down to make way for new luxury housing, a trend for the future perhaps.
What is the solution? It is of course affordable housing. The identified culprit seems to be foreign buyers driving up prices. How does Singapore, Australia and the United Kingdom deal with this. Jersey in the Channel Islands received big money coming in from rich British people who drove up their real estate prices.
Jersey created a two- tier real estate market, one for foreigners and one for locals.
Locals could only buy and sell to other locals and foreigners could only buy and sell to other foreigners.
Prices for locals remained reasonable and the community survived. Australia permits foreigners to buy only new houses, and Singapore puts a stamp tax on foreign buyers. Others levy taxes on empty houses owned by foreigners. Ottawa is not affected, so Canada does nothing.
Why should fickle foreign capital have such an impact on the continuity of communities and family relationships? It shouldn’t, unless we allow it.
Maybe some political event or natural climatic event might cause foreigners to sell as rapidly as they bought and maybe the community will return to normal, where families can stay together for generations as they used to. I doubt it.
But one can be hopeful that something will change the current paradigm.
Trevor Gibbs
West Vancouver
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