The Editor,
Re: "Young people not sold on home ownership," News, May 27.
This article did not sit well with me, nor did it with my peers.
As a young adult in my 20s, I completely disagree with the message being sent out that single-family homes are not important to young people.
Having been born and raised in Richmond in a detached home with a yard, I would want nothing less than that for me and in the future, my children.
Many of my peers want the same, the problem being that the cost is out of range for what was a staple in our parent's generation.
Instead of buying an undersized condo here, many young people I know plan on leaving the city, and more often than not, leave the province or country to afford a larger living space often at a lower price.
Housing costs are the reason for more young people renting, not their desire for living flexibility. As optimistic as projects such as the River Park Place complex are in creating a community feel, I fear from my own experience as a Richmond condo owner that it is a hollow pursuit having the opposite effect: It creates more isolation and suspicion from your neighbours, many of whom refuse to even say "hi" back when greeted.
If more of these projects continue, you may as well say "so long" to the good old days of Canadian values where you would greet your neighbours and chat while doing yard work or walking down the street in communities of detached homes.
Instead, we are stacked up on top of each other in concrete blocks like insects in a nest.
So, before we assume that all young people buy condos and forego driving by choice, let's not kid ourselves and remember that, given the choice, any number of young people would gladly have more living space and a car in an instant.
It's insulting to us millennials that the baby boomer generation believes that we're happily accepting these changes.
Robert Johnson Richmond
