News

Message from the President

What began as a rather wet and cold summer has turned into one of the hottest and driest Vancouver summers on record! I think the same can be said for the condominium housing market (both new and used) in Vancouver and the Lower Mainland. The portion of the Municipal tax base that is defined by condominium ownership in the Lower Mainland has been growing by leaps and bounds. According to CMHC, the total number of multi-dwelling housing starts for the first half of 2010 almost doubled the number recorded during the same period in 2009. Vancouver, New Westminster and Surrey lead the way in multi-dwelling housing starts as developers have brought more units to the market with “projects that were either on hold or in the planning phase during the last two years.”

Why am I referring to multi-dwelling housing starts and Municipal tax bases? At the recent mid-year CCI conference held in Toronto CCI National put together a two-part chapter clinic. The first part of the clinic focused on strategies used by three CCI chapters to get more influence with their local governments. I Bill Thomson of CCI Toronto and a member at large on the CCI National executive nicely summarized what each of the speakers had to say. You can read more about the chapter clinic at page 4 of the CCI National summer newsletter. The fact that these chapters had much to say about strategies to get more than a foot in the door of local governments speaks volumes about what condominium stakeholders in Vancouver and the Lower Mainland, who hold considerable voting power and who make up a considerable portion of the tax base of the local governments in the Lower Mainland, can do to have their local governments stand up and take notice of issues affecting their strata corporations. CCI can and is willing to assist strata lot owners in Vancouver and the Lower Mainland identify areas that need to be addressed by our local governments, including garbage collection and property taxes to name a few. As elected officials, local government representatives need to know what our strata lot owners, as tax payers and voters, have to say about condominium living and what should be happening with their tax dollars. If you have a local government issue that you think is not being heard, perhaps it is time to rally other strata lot home owners who, with the help of CCI Vancouver, might be able to get “more influence” with the Vancouver and Lower Mainland local governments.

Jamie Bleay
CCI-Vancouver President