Dear Editor:
In the Record, there has been a lot of discussion lately of New Westminster’s “missing middle,” and in that context there are a number of things I hope we’ll keep in mind:
1) Having three children is not a “regular family” scenario. Canada’s birthrate as of 2013 was 1.59 births per woman. (And this is a good thing considering the negative consequences of human overpopulation – such as two-thirds of all other animals are on track for extinction by 2020.)
2) Families with children can live in apartments. They do so all over the world and turn out just fine. It’s good not having a backyard: you can spend more time at the park actually meeting people who are different from you.
3) Most – if not all – supposedly family-oriented “secured market rental housing” is really just a licence for developers to print money. Renting is not a financially sustainable option for a family.
4) Before further reducing our green canopy with more laneway houses and such, let’s deal with the issue of over-housing. Some of those Queen’s Park mansions could easily house two or three families – and as they’re sold, should be retrofitted to do so.
Patrick Parkes, New Westminster
