Municipalities

To break housing gridlock, we need to democratize unrepresentative public hearings

Feb 22, 2023
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Housing policy has a democracy problem. Amid a housing crisis, highly unrepresentative public hearing processes contribute to land-use decisions that fail to reflect the perspectives and interests of all affected residents. But the right reforms can help deepen democracy and break housing gridlock. At the municipal level, decisions about providing new housing are typically made… View Article

Still so far from home: An update on BC’s 114,000 homes promise

Feb 10, 2023
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There is a huge opportunity for the BC government, under new leadership, to address housing affordability by making major investments in non-market housing. A growing number of commentators have recognized that the market alone cannot solve BC’s housing problem, particularly for low- to middle-income households. Major investments in non-market housing could include a much larger… View Article

What happened to the 114,000 new affordable homes promised in BC?

Mar 11, 2022
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During the 2017 election campaign as part of its plan to make life more affordable, the BC NDP promised if elected to “build 114,000 affordable rental, non-profit, co-op and owner-purchase housing units through partnerships over ten years. These homes will be a mix of housing for students, singles, seniors and families and will range from… View Article

Upzoning and housing affordability

Mar 3, 2022
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With the 2022 municipal elections now in sight—and a housing affordability crisis that’s as bad as ever—the City of Vancouver has embarked on two new directions for more dense housing in its detached-housing neighbourhoods. These moves are modest but point to the type of new housing supply needed region-wide. First, as part of a new… View Article

Time to reform the unfair Home Owner Grant—here’s how

Jan 28, 2022
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Early January showed how much BC’s housing system is biased towards existing homeowners to the detriment of renters and housing affordability. First, the latest property value assessments in BC revealed double-digit increases across the board. Large annual increases, such as the 16 per cent hike we see in the City of Vancouver, have become the… View Article

BC should look to zero waste solutions to reduce GHG emissions and create jobs

Jan 24, 2022
By , , and
British Columbia is ahead of most North American jurisdictions in implementing composting and recycling programs. Yet, we are systemically burdened by endless amounts of packaging, especially the mass proliferation of plastic, which is an environmental tragedy of our times. BC shares the core problem with other jurisdictions: a culture of consumption and an extraction-oriented economic… View Article

Social impact bonds are a wolf in sheep’s clothing

Apr 27, 2021
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Earlier this year, Vancouver city council considered a motion encouraging the city to look into the issue of “social impact bonds” (and more broadly “social impact investing”), which is a warm and fuzzy sounding term that actually refers to a type of privatization. I spoke to city council to help demystify the rhetoric around social… View Article

Vancouver’s Secured Rental Policy and the battle over density

Sep 28, 2020
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In North American cities with growing populations and economies, a similar political story on housing affordability is playing out. Calls to permit more dense housing supply—also known as upzoning or changes to land use regulations to allow multi-unit buildings on “single-family” detached lots—pit older, wealthier homeowners against younger, less affluent, renters who feel shut out… View Article