Reply from Casey Edge on how to educate public officials on housing facts

Reply to Joyce Behnsen

Hi Joyce

The best defence is educate the public and elected officials on the housing facts supported by the numbers. Basically that’s all I do. It requires research but I’m prepared when bureaucrats and politicians use housing for political purposes and more revenue… which is almost always. For example, the Cowichan Valley Regional District Housing Indicators Report (2014) says the median household income is about $73,660 enabling the purchase of a home “for $303,192, with a 10% downpayment.” At the time of the report, the median sale price for single detached homes was $315,000, however prices have since increased to $506,500. The cost of housing is already stretched beyond the affordability of many CVRD residents. Boosting permit fees, DCC’s, etc. will only put housing further out of reach. That’s what elected officials and the public need to hear if only to provide accountabilty at election time. They need to be called out when campaigning on housing affordability, and after elected they raise fees and deny rezonings. Thank you for reading the column.
Casey Edge