Renters treated as second-class citizens

Re: “What now?” March 19.

The stories read like a sales pitch for the B.C. Liberals. I expected a serious analysis of the crisis situation facing the majority of Victoria seniors, working families, students and those without a roof over their heads.

Regurgitating numbers to justify what is intolerable for the 60 per cent of Victoria households who rent is unsatisfactory.

The elephant in the room consists of what is not being said by the powers that be and the Times Colonist.

Housing is considered a privilege for property owners and successive governments who protect those privileges. Why is it that those without secure tenure are stigmatized as “second class citizens”?

When was the last time you heard of homeowners couch-surfing or being driven out of their neighbourhoods because they couldn’t afford to live there?

According to the Capital Region Housing Gap Analysis & Data Book, only 13.7 per cent of the region’s homes are affordable for 50 per cent of households. Almost half of renter households spent 30 per cent or more of their total household income on shelter costs.

B.C. hands out hundreds of millions of dollars in increased homeowner grants and tax deferrals to residential property owners and subsidies for first-time homebuyers. Yet B.C. won’t close Residential Tenancy Act loopholes permitting unscrupulous landlords to impose fixedterm leases or geographic increases raising rents 30 to 40 per cent when there’s a zero per cent vacancy rate.

Both B.C.’s premier and Victoria’s mayor have agreed to make renters pay for their “lifestyle superpower” vision. Shame. Victoria Adams Victoria