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Letters  

Reveal who owns condos

Until (B.C.’s attorney general and minister responsible for housing) David Eby reveals the owners of the thousands and thousands of homes built in our city and our province, he will get no support from many of us for his calls to control municipal zoning.

That's right, we want to know who is buying these homes in the high rises that have taken over our city before he spews out more ridiculous thoughts on the so-called housing crisis.

All we hear as residents is "shortage of affordable, family housing,” yet we are already building beyond what our municipal infrastructure can handle and there seems to be no change in the provincial government’s rhetoric.

I'm calling on the provincial government to disclose the ownership status of the dozens of high rises that Kelowna has approved and built over the past decade. I will personally fight Mr. Eby to the end of his political career if he thinks he can just cram housing wherever he pleases without the approval of the residents actually living in these municipalities.

The government is treating this like an emergency, yet they are doing nothing to stop the purchasing of multiple houses by investors and speculators.

In the Rutland (area of Kelowna) where I live, there are multiple houses that have sold during the past year, yet no one moves in until they hit the rental market. These are not families purchasing these homes, but rather investment companies and landlords adding to their wealth.

The average family trying to purchase one of these so-called "entry level" homes is unable to outbid those who already have home equity to tap into, such as landlords or real estate investment funds.

Let me be crystal clear, Eby needs to reduce his tone until he proves to the people who elected him that they are satisfied their community (in Eby’s case the riding of Vancouver-Point Grey) isn’t being sold out to investors and developers alike.

Let's pull the drapes on the real housing crisis. He knows, just as well as we all know, there are no families purchasing homes in these sky scrapers being built here in Kelowna. The towers are selling out in hours or days to short-term rental companies or speculators hoping to cash in at our expense.

Guess what? He may control a tiny part of the government, but he does not control the people who pay his (MLA and ministerial) wages. The only way he will get buy-in, is if he shows us the stats on how many homes are owned by one entity.

No proof, no buy-in.

Steve Brandel, Kelowna



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