A Richmond News reader thinks that elected officials and builders are creating the improper variety of housing.
Dear Editor,
I do not have to inform you, my friends, that we are enduring a dire housing lack in Richmond.
The fantastic information is that our elected officials and builders are making a concerted work to establish additional housing the poor information is it’s the completely wrong form.
The new housing initiatives underway will not assist our younger adults and center-revenue employees fleeing our group hunting for economical housing and will only profit the privileged elite. Is anybody astonished?
Alternatively than investing in reasonably priced housing that daily folks can manage, we are witnessing the building of luxurious townhouses and higher-priced condominiums, some of which result in the destruction of one-family members dwellings to receive the land.
The negligible sum of economical housing beneath development is inadequate for Richmond’s 200K populace — 26 for each cent of whom are renters in a location with a <1 per cent vacancy rate.
We desperately need a two-pronged approach to fix this systemic issue.
Our young adults are forced to relocate, leaving behind their entire community and support system, making families more vulnerable.
Prong one is to re-design single-family homes to create two or three smaller homes on the same plot that our much-valued teachers, tradespersons, healthcare and childcare workers, and young professionals can afford.
Prong two involves city council fundamentally changing zoning laws to create more purpose-built rental housing that families and middle-income residents, who make less than $70,000 annually, can afford.
Jack Trovato
RICHMOND
