I agree Eric that is very unfair taking advantage like that I know free enterprise is ok etc but it does sound like they are taking the piss a bit and bumping the prices. i'm sure old Skim and his mates in Canada have a few million sheets of ply they can send down, the place is 90% timber anyway.
I feel sorry for those folks who have been made redundant its bad enough loosing your home but having your job removed at the same time is a double whammy. I wonder if the mayor may have created a future problem because if I lived there with no job or home I would think very seriously of pulling up stakes and starting a fresh elswhere in a less dodgy area.