Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuzz
I'm not against development, but second homes sitting empty sure don't help our housing situation in Canada.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by blankall
If a 60+ year old person has an empty bedroom, in the middle of a nationwide housing crisis, how do you turn around and blame the condo in the middle of the city centre for the lack of family housing?
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I think these two posts hit the root of a problem that is hurting a lot more of the country than just residents of Canmore.
Places like Kelowna/Vernon/Fernie and many more all have similar issues. We have a bunch of people hoarding interior space and land that is extremely under-utilized. Not only does this cause housing problems, it's got an enormous energy and infrastructure footprint.
Building hotels and rental condos in Canmore isn't really an issue, and actually is a great way to increase access to the mountains, which is a good thing - as Fuzz agreed to.
There must be some really clever taxation scheme out there that would make it more expensive to sit on empty space. If owners of vacation places could face massive taxes to leave them empty, or a decent windfall renting them out, maybe we see more people take on the hassle of renting out their empty space in tourist areas.