And on Wednesday, nearly 40 of those candidates joined them for a meeting and training. A local architecture association put it together in order to help address the island’s acute housing crisis. All the candidates demonstrated a sincere desire to address this important and radical challenge. It has risen to the very top of the priorities of many as we look toward the next elections.
Given that many candidates and current deputies were new to the association, the event helped familiarize them with how the association works. Vic Slade, chief executive of the association, noted the sense of shared purpose among everyone there. The reason for that optimism was what he saw as a passion within the philanthropic community to work together. All of them want to help tackle the island’s housing crisis.
Housing has quickly become one of the biggest issues from election candidates, which is a true testament to how pressing this issue is. His point was to illustrate the vigorous, creative work done by those deputies who have already begun. He reiterated that they have already done a huge body of work in the States to address these issues. The event served as an engaging forum to connect, debate, and learn. It provided candidates with the opportunity to directly confront one another and contrast their views.
Slade remarked on the overwhelming turnout, saying, “Just the numbers attending and the fact we had to find more chairs at the start was a good sign that people take this seriously and they want to do something.” This sentiment resonated throughout the gathering, illustrating a collective commitment to resolve the island’s housing issues for the benefit of its residents.
The effort would help build cooperation between all candidates and office-holders as they move into real governance on the way to effective problem-solving. The shared goal is clear: to get this resolved for the good of the island and its community.
