In response to the article about Coun. Fred Haynes calling for smaller, more sustainable homes in Saanich, I must say I am very supportive of smaller homes. Encouraging smaller properties in Saanich where possible would be very helpful to single people and families as well as also the forgotten 55-plus singles or couples that no longer want a large yard and home to maintain, but also do not want to buy a townhouse or condo.
Just making smaller homes helps reduce the cost of the home, and cost of heating and maintenance.
The prices of homes today make the purchase of a home in my neighbourhood of Cordova Bay for a family with a regular income impossible.
Most of us born in the ‘60s or earlier have no idea the costs that face most young people of today. They are faced with extremely high heating bills, cable bills, cost for computers, cellphones, etc. These are now a huge part of costs facing families today that we never had.
When I was young you could buy a home on a very modest income and the utilities were a fraction of monthly bills. I never even looked at food costs, and we had phones in our homes, for a monthly bill of $15. You could have a TV with no cable and still get the main channels.
Now a heating bill, cable, phone, electricity, food, never mind car insurance, a bus pass is costly, the home insurance crazy.
These costs can well exceed a mortgage payment, something we never could imagine.
There is a portion of families that fall into a strange area for buying a home. They do not have enough for a regular home but make too much to fit into the standard co-op, and want a house not a condo. And there are people that cannot even get into a co-op.
So I ask everyone to think about if they could afford what they have today if they faced the costs and needs of today.
During my first year of university 90 per cent of us did not have a computer, we typed out our term papers. Now your child needs their own computer at the age four or five.
The more we think of others and help to make their dreams of home ownership possible, the more we all benefit. And the more we help support seniors who had jobs with no pensions be able to downsize to a smaller, more affordable home, the better we all do and feel in the end.
Let’s not follow the down the road of the Europeans and the U.S., as we have time to make a difference, and in the end we will all benefit. I can promise that.
D. L. Pearson
Saanich