Dear Editor,
Re: “Ghost City,” News, Dec. 2
I have watched with dismay the head-spinning pace of condo development in Richmond’s City Centre — wondering about the need for a building on every corner and for so many units to be built so quickly.
Now we have reports, supported by real estate data, that indicate half of these new units are sold but uninhabited and that the area is in danger of becoming a ghost town. It begs the question — who exactly are these units built for? Is it to benefit absentee investors and real estate developers?
We keep hearing that the housing crisis is partly an issue of supply. If so many of the units built are marketed and sold overseas and not even made available to Canadians, it’s no wonder there is a problem with supply. Why is this allowed? There should be some restriction or limit on the percentage of units sold to speculators. Developers should not have free reign to market and sell units overseas.
It seems we are selling out the future of our cities in the Lower Mainland to the highest bidder. Neighbourhoods are being hollowed out with homes and condos sitting empty serving not as dwelling places but as empty shells for storing capital. Modest bungalows are torn down and replaced with monolithic mega homes that can be sold at a premium. I wonder how many of these mega homes in Richmond are also uninhabited? It may explain the growing problem with illegal house/hotels. Many of these absentee investors will never come to live here. Has anyone on council considered the long-term implications of that?
A cap on foreign ownership and some kind of empty home tax might help to mitigate the growing problem of empty condo units and empty homes.
I would like to remind the Mayor and councillors of Richmond that they were elected and are in office to find solutions to problems not excuses. The problem doesn’t go away simply because it is ignored. Now that Carol Day’s proposal to study/implement an empty home tax in Richmond has been rejected, I would like to know what the City plans to do about the problem of empty homes and condo units. With so many more developments still in the works, we do not have the luxury of taking a wait and see approach.
We need our elected officials to act now to preserve community and quality of life in our city. Stopping any further condo development would be a good place to start. A cap on foreign ownership and an empty home tax are also needed.
It is time the Mayor and councillors of Richmond worked to address the concerns of people who actually live here.
Luisa Lim
Richmond
