The Editor,
The Liberal federal government has announced its planned immigration numbers for the next few years. Starting at 300,000 for 2017, the numbers rise to 340,000 by 2020.
Given numbers in the past, this will mean 50,000-plus arrivals in Metro Vancouver each year.
In the past two years, there have been very large increases in house prices. These have meant most young families won’t be able to buy a house. In the Tri-Cities, condo and townhouse prices have risen by around 20% in the last year alone .
These huge price increases are the result of excess demand over supply. The construction industry, along with the planning and re-zoning process, can supply only a certain amount of new housing. The number of new houses built in the future is very unlikely to increase very much.
So with ever higher immigration levels and little increased housing supply, the housing crunch will get worse and prices will go ever higher.
Immigration should be reduced to a level where housing supply is sufficient to meet demand. I suggest this be around 150,000 a year — less than half the planned number.
Stephen Tighe,
Port Coquitlam
