Dear Editor,
We wonder why housing prices are so high in Richmond and in most other areas of Metro Vancouver and we blame demand. But when we closely examine how we supply the market with new housing, we can’t ignore population density and how low it is close to our urban centre.
Richmond is a great example of how single family homes on relatively large lots occupy too much of the developable land base in Richmond. If you exclude the land in Richmond that is in the ALR and you just calculate current population density on the remaining 61.4 per cent of the island city’s land base outside the ALR, which is 30.63 square miles (19,605 acres), Richmond’s current population density is just less than half of that of Vancouver (47 per cent), a city that has far too much single family housing.
Remember, Richmond is served by a rapid transit system and major highways. We have neighbourhood centres with little density around them.
It’s time we grow up and grow to meet the needs of future residents.
Bob Ransford
Richmond
