Editor:
We are still looking for a place to live like countless others that have been squeezed out of their rental units. The law allows for landlords to repossess property and the COVID measures that were put in place regarding evictions ended in 2020.
What does this mean for the essential workers living in Gibsons?
Care aides, hospital workers, grocery clerks and ferry workers looking for a rental may face an approximate rental increase of 50 per cent and there is a decrease in units available in the area, compared with two years ago. Finding a rental during a pandemic is very difficult.
The municipality has not capped the number of Airbnb licences to increase available housing in the area. Anyone in this situation is highly vulnerable and may expect to pay 50 per cent or more of their wages in housing. Perhaps that is one reason the food banks are seeing more and more people.
In my opinion essential workers facing this situation cannot keep up with the inflation created by people’s greed. The municipality must speed up the process for affordable housing if it wants to keep workers on the Coast.
If things continue in this direction for the next year, how many businesses will close? How many people will leave? Will the ferry be forced to reduce it sailings as it struggles to hire people on the Coast? What happens when inflation increases exponentially in a society?
Sheri Peters, Gibsons
