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The Surrey Civic Coalition (SCC) is calling for the creation of a Regional Rental Registry and the restructuring of the Surrey City Development Corporation (SCDC).

The recommendations followed an all candidates’ debate Wednesday sponsored by the Surrey Housing and Homelessness Task Force.

Gary Robinson, an SCC Council candidate who currently serves on the task force, said the majority of the participants at the debate agreed with SCC’s recommendations.

Robinson says the city-owned SCDC “should stop competing with the private sector in land development and refocus its energy in providing more affordable housing in Surrey.”

He said a registry should be established to “create an online data base that lists available rental properties in Surrey, plus make hard copies available at civic sites. That will go a long way to helping people find affordable housing.”

He proposed the registry also be linked to the Vancouver site to act as a regional database. “Surrey can lead the region in finding workable solutions and create affordable housing,” he said.

Robinson outlined a three-point strategy for housing and homelessness:

1. Identify what rental stock is available;

2. Give people the greatest opportunity to find and occupy rental units with an online registry;

3. Expand rental stock through the repurposing of SCDC.

Grant Rice, another SCC council candidate with a reputation for being a council and SCDC watchdog, agreed.

Rice said the publicly-owned SCDC “should not be building townhouses in East Clayton, should not be building a brewery in Bridgeview and should not be competing with private developers in Campbell Heights.

“The current rental stock in Surrey is getting old and needs renewing. The SCDC should be refocused and their efforts should be directed toward building affordable rental housing.”

Robinson said, “the development community cannot be expected to provide additional rental units on a charity basis and other levels of governments have failed to address this issue. So we must find innovative ways to identify existing rental stock and repurpose existing resources such as SCDC.”

For further information, please call

Gary Robinson 778-885-4369
Grant Rice 604-584-1954

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