Editor:
Re: Delta ordered to create 3,607 housing units in the next five years
Premier Eby’s housing directive demands that these be completed units, not just units approved by city council.
It makes no allowance for factors beyond the city’s control, such as: the effect of interest rates, the rising cost of building materials, availability of construction labour, the actual, not merely estimated, demand for housing units of different types.
If the number of units completed doesn’t hit the target, what then? More heavy-handed directives from the provincial government?
It is possible to foresee the province ordering cities to reduce development cost charges. This will of course require substantial increases in property taxes.
I don’t mind subsiding non-profit and below market housing for those on low incomes, but subsidizing profit seeking developers to build market price housing would be stupidity. Premier Eby’s housing directive is badly flawed. We should tell him so.
C. Campbell
