Downtown safety issues drive a school program out
"Am I a criminal?"
CKPG reporter Tommy Osborne has a scoop:
Students of the Intersect School Program were in for disappointment when they learned the program would be pausing for the 2024-25 school year. The School District 57’s Alternate Community Programs sent a letter to families involved in the program explaining students won’t be able to attend school next year, and instead will have to move to their catchment school or the John McInnis Centre.
Included in the article is a letter to students and families indicating the reason: the need for a “larger building, in a safer location” and it goes on to talk to students about being harassed and witnessing drug use.
The “bigger building” is obviously a part of this but it’s also not great that downtown has been deemed an unsafe location for a youth support program. Expect to hear more about this in days to come.
I guess we’ll just keep talking about short-term rentals
It’s a four-day long weekend and I’m planning to take advantage of it, so we’re doing letters on a Thursday.
On councillor Trudy Klassen asking for data on the use of short-term rentals and their use by the healthcare system, Jessica W writes:
"I would also be very interested to see this data! If it is gathered I hope it is shared publicly."
Seconded! I've always been skeptical of the "We *need* AirBnB for nurses" talking point, since I've never seen it substantiated. A friend of mine, who until just recently did administrative worked at one of the staffing agencies in PG said her company rarely used AirBnBs, preferred to negotiate long term rentals that they can use to put up workers coming from our of town. She can't speak for the whole industry, of course, but I've yet to see evidence that this actually true, and that alternatives would not be practical if AirBnBs were banned.
Also, this is not a letter but it seems fair to share the perspective of someone who wants to keep short-term rentals in place and this has being shared all over Facebook. Jen Higham was one of the first to push the city to opt out of the province’s new rules in an interview in the Citizen, where she laid out her situation:
Jen Higham has eight houses/duplexes in Prince George she rents through the Airbnb platform and she is not interested in turning them into long-term rentals. She doesn’t want the headaches that come with being a long-term landlord.
“They would all be sold,” Higham said.
…
“We have at least three companies that come in and provide travel nurses and we will lose all of them, they will stop bringing the nurses here because it’s just not affordable for them to bring them in and put them in hotels,” said Higham. “It’s going to hurt healthcare and sports and tourism.
In her latest post, she writes:
How did we end up here?
Running an airbnb in bc can result in 6 months in prison but open drug use is ok. The government is handing out free drugs.
People are being shot in the streets...but don't you dare furnish a home and set it up nicely for tourists or work crews or medical professionals to stay in.
I spent 4 years setting up airbnbs. 10s of thousands in furnishing stocking and beautiful linens. This is a business just like any other. Im on call 24/7. You cannot compare these homes with hotel rooms. It feeds my family and my 52 (mostly rescued) animals. Many of you have stayed in them. I employ 5 cleaners, a landscaper, a junk hauler, electrician, contractor, plumber and one young boy who's first job is moving garbage cans out to the curb.
Am I a criminal for doing that? ???
Everyone who travels in bc will only have the choice of basement suites (the only allowable airbnb now) or hotels. Every guest I talk to about this has no idea everyone is being forced to close may 1.
She encouraged folks to lean on city council to continue to push back against the province — which they are doing, so there we are.
News roundup:
LGBTQ2SA+ Elder Abuse Awareness townhall being held on Thursday.
English remains biggest challenge facing displaced Ukrainians in Prince George.
Wait, is Mr. PG naked all the time?
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Send feedback by emailing northerncapitalnews@gmail.com. Find me online at akurjata.ca.
Jen Higham is an real estate speculator and for some entitled reason seems to believe real estate, particularly speculative rentals is some sort of guaranteed return. Are we supposed to feel sorry for her?
We don't feel sorry for and we don't give a platform to folks who lost their shirt speculating on equities or cryptocurrency. Is she somehow different? She made a bad investment play because she's not as smart as she believes she is. Boo hoo.
I don't get why Jen Higham thinks "Oh, we'd have to sell the properties" is an unintended consequence and not totally fine, considering it's mentioned multiple times in the Citizen article.
Like, sure, they sell them, presumably to someone who *is* willing to manage a long-term rental, or to someone looking to buy a home to live in. The only "downside" is that she doesn't own it anymore, but when the conversation is about allocating housing for people to live in, it doesn't really matter to us if she owns it or not.
Also, again, just blatant misrepresentations of fact in defense of AirBnBs. I checked both AirBnB and Google maps (for hotels), and prices are pretty comparable (With some hotels actually coming in *cheaper* that the cheaper STR), not "Much cheaper". That was true when AirBnB was new in the early 2010s, but it hasn't been the case for years. People just say things like this and nobody checks!!