I was recently invited to participate in a virtual town hall on housing hosted by Premier David Eby and Minister of Housing Ravi Kahlon. I was excited to be a part of a constructive conversation on this important issue. The premier and minister took questions from those who joined, which were submitted to the operator. The chosen questions were then answered live on the call. The questions and answers were carefully curated to allow the premier and minister answer with policy changes and new initiatives the sitting NDP government has enacted. Very savvy, these politicians are.
While my question did not get answered (for those wondering, I asked why this conversation did not consider a cap on market rents), I left the call with a true feeling of being an active participant whose opinions mattered.
It led me to wonder why we do not host these events in our own communities. We don’t need anything on the scale of a provincially hosted virtual town hall. An impartially moderated (Pique editor Braden Dupuis perhaps?), locally organized virtual housing town hall would give us the opportunity to question our elected officials. MP Patrick Weiler, Whistler Mayor Jack Crompton and Pemberton Mayor Mike Richman could engage with their electorate, listen to our concerns, and let us know what they are currently doing to help people find homes to live in.
It’s laudable that larger rental projects like Harrow Road in Pemberton have been approved, but what other solutions are in the works? Will Pemberton or Whistler opt in to the new short-term rental legislation? What are they doing to ensure seniors can age in place with dignity? What do they suggest high-school graduates do when they want to move out of their parents’ home? What solutions do they have for families who earn over $100,000 a year, but cannot afford to rent or purchase a home?
These are bigger questions addressing issues that cannot be solved by local politicians alone, but wouldn’t it be nice if they at least tried to answer them?
