1 yr. ago • 97%

Mayor can’t afford to buy a house in her own town

kitchener.ctvnews.ca Ont. mayor can’t afford to buy house in township she leads

Waterloo Region’s red-hot housing market hits close to home for Wilmot Township Mayor Natasha Salonen.

Time to loosen zoning restrictions and say no to NIMBYs Ms. Mayor. *

Despite earning around $90,000 a year between her work as mayor, regional councillor and with the local electric utility, she says she can’t afford to buy a home in the municipality she leads.

* yeah, she's still paying off student loans, and I don't know what zoning restrictions are like in her community. But still.

Leopards Ate My Face @lemm.ee Ont. mayor can’t afford to buy house in township she leads

33 comments

Now what happens when teachers, nurses etc can't afford it either.

Home owners loving those paper gains and won't realize it destroys the social fabric of their communities until it's too late.

49
- Home owners loving those paper gains and won't realize it destroys the social fabric of their communities until it's too late.
  
  Most home owners I know either
  
  Don't want the gains, because they can't afford to buy a nicer place even if they sell their current place.
  
  Are unhappy about growing mortgage payments.
  
  Are worried about their kids being able to afford a place.
  
  The gains only benefit people who can cash out and move away. Most homeowners (I know) wouldn't want to borrow against the house value because repayment is so expensive.
  
  30
  
  That is true. The value of my home doesn't mean much to me. If it is worth $1 tomorrow, oh well? Who cares?
  
  But it is troubling to think what will happen when most other homeowners are underwater and their debt gets called. That is going to hurt all of us.
  
  8
  
  Well someone should tell them to vote that way. There's a reason no party other than the greens will even dare speak of the fact that prices need to come down to increase affordability.
  
  7
  
  Still don't support re-zoning their area to allow denser mixed-use housing (in my experience).
  
  6
  
  AKA the boomers win again, like fucking always.
  
  2
  
  And interest rates are at least 2x what many homeowners currently have.
  
  2
- That isn’t as bad as when minimum wage earners won’t be able to rent
  
  Teachers and nurses make enough to warrant a commute and they have skilled jobs (required off site learning), a minimum wage earner can just go anywhere with and not only earn as much but also has way more job flexibility
  
  Also Ontario already pays private nurses double (though it costs the province way more than that because of the ‘Ford friend fee’ I mean agency fee
  
  2
So this just became real huh

48
- "I'm not rich, I'm just a regular millionaire" - my favorite line.
  
  I'm definately not a millionaire - what does that make me?
  
  27
  
  That site is parody - its basically Canadian "The Onion".
  
  8
  
  Fishfodder. The answer is fish fodder.
  
  7
  
  Thousandaire.
  
  2
- When satire predicts the future we're fucked.
  
  12
- I started reading and it took a few paragraphs to even remember that you already told me it was satire
  
  6
Who you calling a NIMBY? Did you even read the article you posted?

Salonen supports last month's announcement to build 10,000 affordable and attainable homes in the region by 2030.

She’s quite literally the opposite of a NIMBY.

25
- If she can't afford to live there then it's by definition not her backyard..
  
  20
- I don't think he called the mayor a nimby.
  
  4
Thanks for keeping us abreast of this situation.

-9
- Which breast?
  
  -4
Boo hoo bitch, maybe do something bout it.

-73
- Salonen supports last month's announcement to build 10,000 affordable and attainable homes in the region by 2030.
  
  43
  
  Yeah, seems like the poster didn’t read the actual article, either
  
  12
  
  That's a project from Habitat for Humanity.
  
  Vocalizing support for someone else's project is a far cry from starting your own projects.
  
  Maybe she is doing something, I don't know, but the example you gave isn't a good one.
  
  9
  
  Pretty much every city in the country needs like ten times that much before things'll start getting better.
  
  All these proposals are like trying to fight a forest fire with a squirt gun.
  
  5
- Permanently Deleted
  
  0
- Don't worry, she'll raise her salary.
  
  -15

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