Starting this fall, residents in Abbotsford and Chilliwack will no longer have mail delivered to their doors and will instead have to pick up mail from community mailboxes. The Fraser Valley cities will be among the first B.C. communities to lose door to door service.
Staff at the Chilliwack mail depot were notified of the change last week.
“Over the next several weeks and months, we will be able to determine in greater detail the impact on employees in your location,” said an internal memo.
More than 12,000 households in Chilliwack and at least another 15,000 in Abbotsford will be affected.
“They said that we’d be losing 40 to 45 percent of our workforce in the letter carrier delivery system by putting them into community mailboxes,” said Canadian Union of Postal Workers Local 741 President Peter Butcher.
“We have 23 routes altogether. With a 45 percent [reduction in staff] we’ll be looking at maybe 12 routes.”
Butcher is also worried about mail theft at community mailboxes, which have become targets for thieves. Canada Post is using more secure boxes, but Butcher doesn't believe that will make much of a difference.
“Mail theft is still a huge issue,” Butcher said. “We’re still getting break-ins and they’re not getting fixed. We had one in December and it’s still not fixed.”
Door-to-door service will also be cut this fall in Mission, Ladner and a handful of communities on Vancouver Island, as part of a cost-cutting plan to phase out home delivery across the country over the next five years. Rural service will not be affected.
By Jesse Johnston, CBC News
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Continuing low interest rates and a healthy stream of newcomers will ensure the good times keep rolling in 2015
VANCOUVER — Continuing low interest rates and a healthy stream of newcomers will ensure the good times keep rolling in 2015 for the Lower Mainland’s property development industry. But it also means pricing will continue to pose a challenge.
Three of B.C.’s biggest developers used adjectives like “great” and “incredibly positive” as they delivered a forecast last week to more than 1,100 industry insiders and politicians attending an Urban Development Institute luncheon.
“Vancouver is going to do well, everyone wants to be here,” declared David Negrin, president of Aquilini Development.
He said a recent crackdown on democracy protesters in Hong Kong is likely to enhance Vancouver’s prospects. “We’re very positive on Vancouver, and it’s going to continue for some time.”
Added Neil Chrystal, CEO of Polygon Homes: “We’re picturesque, have a healthy environment, we’re a clean, safe city offering excellent health care and educational opportunities. We are politically stable and close to Asia.
“I see no sign of the residential market slowing down. ... The market will remain balanced and stable in the year ahead.”
B.C. will experience net immigration in 2015 of some 34,600 immigrants and 2,600 provincial migrants, according to research by Mac Marketing Solutions, a company that plans and markets housing projects.
Mac, with offices in Vancouver and Calgary, forecasts that in subsequent years even larger numbers of both immigrants and Canadians will arrive, noting Alberta’s economic slowdown will make heading further west all the more attractive.
So, while a total of 37,200 newcomers are expected this year, the number should grow to 53,200 by 2018.
Combine that trend with low interest rates and a low vacancy rate in the region, and you have a recipe for continuing strong growth in the property development and real estate sectors. Unfortunately, that does not augur well for affordability.
Between 2006 and 2014, benchmark prices for all types of real estate in Metro Vancouver saw significant price jumps, according to Mac research, with the greatest increase — 46 per cent — recorded in Vancouver’s east side. West Vancouver and Vancouver’s west side both saw increases of 41 per cent.
Referencing the retail sector, Kevin Layden, CEO of Wesbild, said North American stores are downsizing as they move online. But even here, Vancouver is well positioned, never having enthusiastically adopted a big-box retail model.
The city has 13 square feet of retail space per capita, compared to a Canadian per capita rate of 19 square feet and the U.S.’s 30 square feet.
Commenting on Vancouver’s affordability crisis, Negrin cited the high cost of land and remarked: “Everyone is frustrated.” The only way to keep prices down is to increase density, he said.
Yet a Demographia study released last week on housing affordability argues density and urban land containment boost housing prices by restricting development of cheaper perimeter lands.
Chrystal argued development is being constrained by an overly complex and time-consuming municipal approval process. At UBC, he reported, the development approval process takes six months, compared to 12 to 30 months elsewhere in the region.
Added Negrin: “We have to find a way to streamline the process. Anything over one year is too long.”
Chrystal pointed to another challenge for Lower Mainland developers — offshore buyers are starting to purchase land for development that he said could lead to oversupply in certain markets.
They are also posing a challenge in terms of what they are prepared to pay for land acquisitions. “They may be parking money from offshore. We can’t compete on price.”
The developers complained of increasing costs for building materials and a stronger U.S. dollar, forcing higher costs. Prices for drywall, windows and steel were cited.
By Barbara Yaffe - The Vancouver Sun
Three of B.C.’s biggest developers used adjectives like “great” and “incredibly positive” as they delivered a forecast last week to more than 1,100 industry insiders and politicians attending an Urban Development Institute luncheon.
“Vancouver is going to do well, everyone wants to be here,” declared David Negrin, president of Aquilini Development.
He said a recent crackdown on democracy protesters in Hong Kong is likely to enhance Vancouver’s prospects. “We’re very positive on Vancouver, and it’s going to continue for some time.”
Added Neil Chrystal, CEO of Polygon Homes: “We’re picturesque, have a healthy environment, we’re a clean, safe city offering excellent health care and educational opportunities. We are politically stable and close to Asia.
“I see no sign of the residential market slowing down. ... The market will remain balanced and stable in the year ahead.”
B.C. will experience net immigration in 2015 of some 34,600 immigrants and 2,600 provincial migrants, according to research by Mac Marketing Solutions, a company that plans and markets housing projects.
Mac, with offices in Vancouver and Calgary, forecasts that in subsequent years even larger numbers of both immigrants and Canadians will arrive, noting Alberta’s economic slowdown will make heading further west all the more attractive.
So, while a total of 37,200 newcomers are expected this year, the number should grow to 53,200 by 2018.
Combine that trend with low interest rates and a low vacancy rate in the region, and you have a recipe for continuing strong growth in the property development and real estate sectors. Unfortunately, that does not augur well for affordability.
Between 2006 and 2014, benchmark prices for all types of real estate in Metro Vancouver saw significant price jumps, according to Mac research, with the greatest increase — 46 per cent — recorded in Vancouver’s east side. West Vancouver and Vancouver’s west side both saw increases of 41 per cent.
Referencing the retail sector, Kevin Layden, CEO of Wesbild, said North American stores are downsizing as they move online. But even here, Vancouver is well positioned, never having enthusiastically adopted a big-box retail model.
The city has 13 square feet of retail space per capita, compared to a Canadian per capita rate of 19 square feet and the U.S.’s 30 square feet.
Commenting on Vancouver’s affordability crisis, Negrin cited the high cost of land and remarked: “Everyone is frustrated.” The only way to keep prices down is to increase density, he said.
Yet a Demographia study released last week on housing affordability argues density and urban land containment boost housing prices by restricting development of cheaper perimeter lands.
Chrystal argued development is being constrained by an overly complex and time-consuming municipal approval process. At UBC, he reported, the development approval process takes six months, compared to 12 to 30 months elsewhere in the region.
Added Negrin: “We have to find a way to streamline the process. Anything over one year is too long.”
Chrystal pointed to another challenge for Lower Mainland developers — offshore buyers are starting to purchase land for development that he said could lead to oversupply in certain markets.
They are also posing a challenge in terms of what they are prepared to pay for land acquisitions. “They may be parking money from offshore. We can’t compete on price.”
The developers complained of increasing costs for building materials and a stronger U.S. dollar, forcing higher costs. Prices for drywall, windows and steel were cited.
By Barbara Yaffe - The Vancouver Sun
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)