Dear Sir:

Re: Comox Valley ranked among most unaffordable housing markets in B.C. (Jan. 31 2019).

This is not news to anyone who seeks a home here. I have seen signs posted on mailboxes and power poles, and notices on Craigslist from desperate people begging for a rental house, a rental suite, or vacant land or a backyard to park a trailer on (because that鈥檚 all the 鈥渉ouse鈥� they have right now). Several people I know have had to accommodate family members in small trailers on their rural properties. I would be the last person to voice a complaint!

So to all the people who are complaining about their neighbourhoods being 鈥渞uined鈥� by the appearance of 鈥渟mall houses鈥� or secondary suites, or who want the Valley to return to the quiet place they chose to make their home: News flash. These are your kids, your grandchildren, your elderly mother, your college student son or daughter, the burned out or the flooded out. They work here and they deserve a place to live. They are not the 鈥渉omeless,鈥� but they will be homeless until we get an attitude change.

You can鈥檛 pull up the drawbridge now that you have moved here. You can鈥檛 stop the changes in your neighbourhood. You can鈥檛 demand that all secondary suites, tiny houses, carriage houses, 鈥渢railer parks鈥� etc. be abolished. Instead, why not work with your city, town, village or regional district to encourage sensible expansion and growth, and development of more rental housing? Or establishment of mobile home parks? If you are not part of the solution, you may be part of the problem.

J. Gould,

CVRD Area C