Housing calamity created by greed, social neglect

Re: Kitsilano apartment building’s final tenant in last stand against renoviction

I feel bad for Carol-Ann Lang and every other tenant over the last 20 years who were forced into a “fight or flight” situation because of Vancouver’s insane housing prices that have made the city so unaffordable for anyone but the wealthiest people and those blessed few who have been able to move into quality subsidized housing.

When considering monthly rental costs that many Vancouver residents have paid over the decades, the amassed amounts are more than enough to have paid for a condo unit or even a small townhouse in some areas of the GVRD and its municipalities. There are many other countries that have government-backed mortgage and “rent to own” programs that offer zero or low interest which have been in place for decades to secure wealth and economic security among its low-income and middle-class citizens and lessen the need for social services costs later on.

If both the Canadian and B.C. governments had added such programs years ago and not cut the national Cooperative Housing funding perhaps Carol-Ann Lang and thousands of B.C. residents and families in her situation could have paid for and legally owned the apartments and houses they are now forced to vacate and there would be less demand for social housing and other costly essential services to help alleviate poverty among seniors and families today.

This housing crisis was created by greed and social neglect, and it’s costing us all decades later.

Leslie Benisz, Vancouver