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Victoria should impose condo moratorium

As a 31-year-old born-and-bred Victorian, I am unimpressed with the gentrification and “renovictions” happening in 2016. Victoria is building too many overpriced condominiums, which most locals cannot afford.

As a 31-year-old born-and-bred Victorian, I am unimpressed with the gentrification and “renovictions” happening in 2016. Victoria is building too many overpriced condominiums, which most locals cannot afford. There are nearly no benefits to current residents, other than temporary construction jobs.

I will miss the Fort and Cook Street structure soon to become Abstract Development’s Black & White condos. At least 11 long-term small businesses were evicted for these condos, including my favourite Indian restaurant Da Tandoor further down on Fort, which after more than 30 years in business closed to become the short-term Black & White info centre.

In August, my whole workplace, the Medical Arts Building on Pandora and Cook was evicted, including doctors, physiotherapists and a medical laboratory. My father, a family physician, was given six months’ notice to vacate for Amadon Group’s The Wade.

The Ministry of Casual Living, a favourite visual arts collective, (renovicted from 819 Fort by Chard Development), left 25 artists studio-less and scrambling to raise $5,000 for an Esquimalt move.

The past few months also saw five of my friends who rent (all 30-somethings), forced to move, as their homes were sold. In a market with a one per cent vacancy rate for rental units, the current mayor and council need to stop encouraging condos, and instead call for a condo moratorium. Victoria needs more affordable rentals, not condos.

Victoria is losing its character and does not need to become a Vancouver-style towering metropolis.

Marion Smardon

Victoria