MidlandToday welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected]. Please include your daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following letter is regarding Midland's proposal to increase taxes on motels and hotels.
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Dear Editor,
Simcoe County, and that includes the Town of Midland is not only experiencing an affordable housing crisis, we are living in a housing inventory lack crisis as well.
Many who live in our community have had to resort to alternative housing options: couch surfing, sleeping in cars, and yes, living in motels. I'm one of those residents and the motel that I live in is almost completely filled to capacity with residents, not tourists. Some of us have lived here for a year or more, full time. Many of us are single adults, gainfully or contractually employed (jobs with beginnings and endings that are essential work in our communities). It's almost impossible to find rental housing without a permanent full time job that pays far higher than minimum wage. We pay a monthly rate for our room rentals, not $100 per night or more as the town of Midland assumes.
Motels and hotels are not the same, and should not be treated the same when it comes to municipal taxation. If the town of Midland increases the taxes to motel properties, they will be forced to raise our monthly rents, which will put many residents like myself out on the streets. How will we be able to do our jobs if we have no where to shower, prepare meals, or even go to the bathroom?
Please, knowing that motel rooms are people's homes, contact the town of Midland and ask council to reconsider increasing the taxes on these important forms of sustainable housing.
Ute Schmid-Jones
Midland
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