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LETTER: Housing – everything is connected

Editor: Vibrant, livable and diverse communities foster an environment that helps provide and deliver a diverse offering of housing in their respective municipalities. It is incumbent on our elected officials, Town administration, the development

Editor:

Vibrant, livable and diverse communities foster an environment that helps provide and deliver a diverse offering of housing in their respective municipalities.

It is incumbent on our elected officials, Town administration, the development industry and the community as a whole to help ensure that basic human needs, including housing, are being delivered in a timely and efficient manner. We must be responsible with this approach and align it with our climate commitments and aspirational goals, while ensuring a health check does not distract but rather further support a variety of these initiatives and provide multiple forms of housing in Canmore.

Talk to a local business owner –any business owner – and their level of stress over the lack of housing options for their current and future staff is not only problematic, but putting the viability of their business and livelihood at serious risk. We have all faced locked doors, closed signs and dark spaces as a direct result of limited staffing.

The Town of Canmore recently held a workshop where housing topped the list of needs for business and continued economic development. Complacency around housing will have a direct impact on our tax base and erosion of services for residents and visitors over time.

Collectively, we can find creative solutions to this housing crisis through effective land-use, transparent and collaborative approaches and a more efficient approval process. Now is the time to come together, find constructive solutions and deliver housing that will help address the critical labour situation here in the Bow Valley.

The development industry cannot solve this issue alone; we require partners, support and action from many in the community, but we are here to help.

Let’s welcome the next generation of Canmore residents to our amazing community and not forget that most of us were looking for housing here at one time.

Ian O’Donnell,

Canmore,

Executive director, Bow Valley Builders and Developers Association

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