Editor:
Re: New Westminster aims to protect rental housing on 18 sites, Record, Jan. 29
I understand the concern to preserve rental housing in New Westminster.
However, I do sympathize with the owners of rental buildings who have had their investments retroactively devalued by the new bylaw applying rental tenure restrictions.
To those of us who are fortunate to own homes in New Westminster, consider how we would react if the city forced us to sell our properties not on the open market, but only to those with limited financial means, thus devaluing our property.
The right thing is to preserve rental properties, but to compensate the landowners for the devaluation of their property. This spreads the costs of providing lower-income housing across all of the citizens of New Westminster and not just to those who have taken on the risk of being rental property owners.
Dale Darychuk, New Westminster
