Re: “Tenants face 4.5 per cent rent increase — biggest hike since 2004,” Sept. 9.
We rent an apartment and pay, in relation to many other cities in B.C., a very high rent. We are pensioners and are watching inflation eating away at our buying power.
Never I had such an understanding of how some people, through no fault of their own, become homeless. Not only pensioners, but young people and families are watching rents eroding their income.
There are help-wanted signs all over Victoria, but people can’t take these jobs, as they can’t afford the rent in this city.
There is nowhere to go for those who can no longer pay the rent. Apart from building more housing for seniors, low-income earners and those who need shelter, I implore the powers that be to take another look at how the rent increases are calculated and approved.
There must be another way of giving owners a decent rate of return without gouging the renters who are already paying sky-high rents.
Lorraine Mainwaring
Victoria
