To the editor,
Re: City could see first $1-million condo sale, June 15.
The idea that Nanaimo should be ready for, or even celebrating a condo that is listed at $1,000,000 is misguided at best.
We are experiencing a severe shortage of affordable housing here as it is.
Nanaimo is a lovely city with plenty to offer, and that is why I came back to where I grew up. In the last two years since we have been here though, I have watched with silent dread as the house prices have shot up by around $100,000. We stood a decent chance of finding something semi-affordable for our family of five a year and a half ago. The jobs that can support this kind of house pricing are few and far between on the Island. Most families and people in general are over extended as it is.
We should not be catering to a foreign market at all. Nanaimo needs to be working on providing for the people who are already here who need homes and people who actually want to move here. What good is an investment market going to do for the local economy? We are going to end up with houses that are needed sitting empty and the ones who do rent will be charging through the nose, as the one in my neighbourhood is looking for $2,000 per month for a three-bedroom house.
I would like to see Nanaimo adopt a taxation policy similar to Vancouver for empty homes and foreign buyers before it is too late to salvage any sense of reasonable affordability for housing.
Lila Perry, Nanaimo