Letter of Support - BC Regional Council of Carpenters (Hamish Stewart)

Letter of Support

To

Langford City Council

From

Hamish Stewart

Date

June 14, 2022

Subject

2750 Leigh Road - Zoning Amendment

Dear Council Members,

We urge you to consider the merits and need for supporting the expansion of employment lands in Greater Victoria.

Additional measures to increase the supply of industrial land and protect existing trade-enabling lands will be critical for our region’s economy moving forward. Industrial lands support a significant portion of jobs in our region, these jobs typically have fewer barriers to entry and command higher wages for workers without university degrees, who are increasingly at risk of being locked out of our region due to the high cost of living. Without efforts to increase the supply of industrial land, the well-paying jobs it supports for hardworking residents of our region are at risk.

Langford has done an exceptional job of delivering housing and picking up the slack of other municipalities. However, approving housing is only one component of the greater picture of affordability. If trades are unable to live nearby, they will inherently cost more to employ. If materials and access to resources are not available nearby, they too, will ultimately cost more. As we know, theses costs are ultimately pushed downstream to the consumer which decreases affordability for all.

Supporting our trades through the expansion of employment lands is an essential piece of the affordability puzzle so we strongly support this zoning amendment.

We look forward to seeing this project come to fruition.

Sincerely,

DocuSign Envelope ID: EE91C8D5-A6CC-4639-B050-A5F61D6DD0D6

BC Regional Council of Carpenters
Executive Secretary Treasurer
Hamish Stewart