This is a letter I wrote on April 7, 2006, to Focus Magazine in response to an article that asked, "where will the families live?" -- a question sparked by downtown Victoria's upturn in residential condo construction. The letter was cut quite a bit; the following is the uncut version:

Dear Editor:

In April's "Victoria by Design," you ask "where will the families live? Don't we want a city that includes children?" Nearly fifteen years ago, with 2-months-old son in arms, my husband and I began looking for a home to buy. At the time, we lived in Boston, Massachusetts, and we wanted to stay close to Boston's downtown core. We searched primarily in Cambridge, Mass., for its walking proximity to my workplace, to downtown, and its easy commute to the Rt.128 technology corridor. In this precinct, a house was completely out of the question, but we we were happy to look for a suitable condo. What we wanted was access to libraries, museums, cafes, parks, vibrant street life, friends, and music. What happened was the following: we saw a parade of two-bedroom condos, put on the market by people just like us (early- to mid-30s) who had moved in with one babe in arms and were now busting at the seams after the arrival of child #2. Three-bedroom condos never seemed to come on the market -- the families who owned one of these stayed put to raise their kids. So we ended up moving to Boston's North Shore, where we bought a 5-bedroom 1904 house in need of TLC for about the same amount as a 2-bedroom condo in Cambridge. For 11 years we added to the commuter crunch and the sprawling of Boston -- well, actually, our little city of Beverly quickly got too expensive for beginners, and people moved even further afield: to New Hampshire.

I welcome current residential highrise developments in Victoria, but your question "where will the families live?" goes unanswered by prevalent apartment configurations. It would be great to see developers and architects address the question of flexibility in designing for families and their changing needs. We need more 3-bedroom options, or the option of combining 2-beds with studios apartments. Additional bedrooms would meet another need: on the one hand they help enable the work-live option, allowing people to use their condos to meet clients or set up their business equipment; on the other, they offer elderly residents the option to have a caregiver or companion move in -- perhaps even in exchange for room and board (yes, it's almost a "secondary suite" in a condo scenario, but with increasing densification, why not?). Right now, a single person or a couple can "live-work" in a 2-bed, but it's too small for couples with children even to carve out an "adult zone" ( i.e., a study for their own quiet work).

Meanwhile, former 5-bed houses in Victoria neighbourhoods like Fairfield are converted to 2-bed, 1-bed, and studio multi-plexes, again restricting the family living option. Of course young families are going to move to the boonies -- even if they could afford the $500K-plus price tag of these 2-bed "heritage" conversions. Perhaps highrise high-density condo developments could be better positioned to offer layouts that suit families, without pricing these units beyond their reach. It would be great if they did -- imagine seeing more children in Victoria's downtown...

- Yule Heibel