BCBUSINESS.CA jULY/AUGUST 2018 BCBusiness 35
N
ext year marks the 37th anniver-
sary of the start of the Meibion
Glyndwr arson campaign in
Wales. This crime spree was
the work of nationalist groups
opposed to an in•ux of wealthy
English property buyers who had bid up housing
prices, rendering Wales una•ordable to the Welsh.
Declaring "every white settler is a target," the
militants, who apparently did not possess mirrors,
eventually exported their brand of umbrage to
London and Liverpool, where a Conservative Party
o„ce and real estate agencies were bombed. By the
time the campaign ended 12 years after it began,
more than 200 holiday cottages had been torched.
"Real estate makes people nasty," says
UBC's
Tom Davido•. That's one of the Œrst lessons he
learned when he Œrst became interested in it as an
area of study, he notes. The reasons aren't elusive:
shelter is a fundamental human need, so people
understandably get worked up when they see a
Today in B.C., the possibility that things could get
nasty isn't far-fetched—especially if prices continue
to climb steadily. Surging nativism isn't the only
problem on the horizon if housing costs, like some
fairy-tale beanstalk, keep growing skyward
