Daily Hive interviewed Tsur Somerville, a professor at UBC’s Centre for Urban Economics and Real Estate, for a story on how housing costs are preventing companies from hiring and keeping employees in Richmond.
A survey by the Richmond Chamber of Commerce found that 65 per cent of respondents said that more than half of their employees were commuting to work outside of Richmond.
Somerville said the results suggest that housing could become so expensive that businesses won’t be able to remain competitive.
“Any firm that is hiring and trying to bring people here faces this conundrum if their employees are ones who wants lots of housing. So I think it’s a bigger issue for some firms than perhaps for others,” Somerville said.
