Housing

Housing

Stating that housing is a right should not be a controversial statement. Everyone deserves a home to call their own, and space to rest. Housing is critical to mental and physical health. Much can be done to support the housing needs of Victoria residents, alongside provincial responsibilities. Housing ties in both economic and environmental factors. Many are experiencing a multi-crises of housing needs, affordability and a rapidly changing world. As a city we can continue to work with the province to support social housing and cooperative living spaces.

For private rentals, the dissonance between what is considered basic living needs and the reality of what renters face needs to be addressed. Tenancy reforms are not an attack on home owners purchasing rental property. Creating tenancy laws that set a standard for the health and safety of tenants can weed out those investors only looking for profits at the expense of basic tenancy rights. Ensuring tenants have safeguards against negligent landlords is crucial to allow people to live and work in our city.

my personal perspective:

As a renter for almost 30 years I always feared my home being sold or renovicted. After I lost my first real home when it was sold just after I married, we maintained our next home more than necessary to stay under the radar of our landlord. I remember heated discussions with my father when asking for help to fix things ourselves rather than asking our landlord. He didn't understand the precarity of renting that my growing family experienced.

Twelve years ago I became a home owner, but the gift of being able to do so was unintended. My father died unexpectedly 17 years ago. For him, owning his own home was everything. He grew up in a one room farmhouse in a small, northern Alberta, French Canadian community, before moving to BC. As a millwright he took on all the extra overtime he could and worked as many graveyard shifts as he was able, to be able to purchase his own home. Two months before his retirement he died suddenly at work. It was an uneasy inheritance to receive but it gave me a unique perspective as I grew my worker-led activism.

In a neighbouring municipality a senior is too terrified to report the black mold that continues to grow in her tiny basement apartment because she fears eviction. She has been on a list for better housing for over five years but because she has a roof over her head currently, she is at the bottom, despite the damage to her health. She is crammed into a house that has been subdivided into too many suites without proper ventilation.

As a census worker five years ago I walked the streets in many neighbourhoods of Victoria tabulating residential addresses and witnessed first hand the creative definition of housing. Talking to residents and hearing their stories opened my eyes to whom I share my city with. The experience left an indelible impression on how I perceive my city.