Dear Editor,
Thanks to reporter Graeme Wood for his exposé of Richmond’s booming illegal house hotel business.
I laughed when I read city spokesperson Ted Townsend’s comment that action taken is dependent on complaints received.
As 33-year residents of Richmond, my husband and I gave up complaining to city hall many years ago — whether it’s speeding traffic, incessantly barking dogs, dust-choked lanes, open ditches, rats, illegal suites, lack of sidewalks, lack of street trees, lack of benches for the elderly.
Notably, we were threatened twice by homeowners for reporting their illegal activities to the city.
Several house hotels have been operating in the few blocks around our home for at least 15 years. In 2004, we befriended a family immigrating to Canada. They told us the owner accepted cash payments only for the room they’d booked from their homeland.
In 2010, my husband’s sister from England, planning to visit here on vacation, easily found and booked a room online before cancelling after we informed her it was in an illegally-run house hotel.
How difficult could it be, then, for an undercover inspector to book a room and show up for a few hours, like the Richmond News reporter?
If city hall pleads lack of funds for additional inspectors, earmark some of the money it must be raking in from the obscene amount of development taking place.
Or, redirect a portion of the millions of annual casino profits. Or, stop subsidizing the elitist white elephant Richmond Oval at taxpayers’ expense.
Over the years, we have witnessed a steady parade of strangers wheeling suitcases, and too many taxis, to and from homes that are merely houses. In feigning ignorance of this situation for so long, the city’s powers-that-be are complicit in, and consequently responsible for, the decline in neighbourhood cohesiveness all over the city. It isn’t fair to shift onus, not to mention danger from possible retaliation, onto residents for this mess.
Ruth Alsemgeest
Richmond
