Well the fact that TEAM for an Unaffordable Vancouver got skunked in today's by-election is something to celebrate. Council seats should only go to those who come with solutions and the ability to reason through different alternatives.
Passionate about what we are doing to create Liveable Cities! Plenty of turbulence in 2025 but we're on track for a busy year!
Whoever drafted the Broadway Plan Opposition Letter included a whopper of a lie. Prove me wrong.
Vancouver Island developers: you can change lives by putting development homes to temporary use! My friend Louis James runs refugee settlement programs for the Central Vancouver Island Multicultural Society and is always on the hunt for accommodations.
linkedin.com/in/louis-james-1b881b259
Limits to Chinese state Artificial Intelligence
And the exclusive focus on new construction ... ?????
Unnecessary ... ridiculous overstep. Real estate development is so highly regulated Federally, Provincially, Regionally, and locally. Now if local governments want to create an optional program to incent below-market affordable housing with waived/eliminated CACs/ACCs, that's another story.
@liveablecity.bsky.social honoured to co-lead this learning journey with Perkins+Will, PWL, and a wider team for Nch’ḵaỷ Development Corporation +Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Nation - listening to stories of the lands to imagining and modelling new futures in 'plans and pro formas'. Story here: tinyurl.com/msexsypx
To give you some frame of reference, here's the benchmark annual return on capital invested from the BC Municipal Pension Plan from their 2023 Annual Report.
Fresh thread on @cityhallwchvan.bsky.social financial illiteracy. If this project generates $4.6M in Y1 net operating income, where do they get the stupid idea this generates $107M in "wealth". No clue what it costs to develop and finance such a building? cityhallwatch.wordpress.com/2025/01/22/2...
I support a new plan for Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Old plan pushed out regular development and downzoned properties.
Crazy organic design!
Vancouver's DCL Waiver for Secured Rental Housing at Market and Below Market rates is a small fraction of the unit cost. It's in fact a credit for affordable housing that is the target of DCL funds. Appalling is the almost $47,000/unit Regional & City taxes levied on a typical new apartment.
Spacing Magazine published an uninformed article critical of Vancouver's Broadway Plan, alleging City didn't consider economics of alternate intensities of rental.
Facts:
Appendix K of the City's report: council.vancouver.ca/20220518/doc...
and Tenant Protection:
vancouver.ca/people-progr...
rezoning.vancouver.ca/applications...
rezoning.vancouver.ca/applications...
rezoning.vancouver.ca/applications...
rezoning.vancouver.ca/applications...
rezoning.vancouver.ca/applications...
NEW RENTAL HOUSING, Vancouver BC
Against all the noise and biased negativity, here are six randomly selected applications showing typical floors with very livable suites.
www.shapeyourcity.ca/1270-1290-w-...
Food for thought for the design of homes, shared common areas and public spaces for new higher intensity developments ...
Great article by @brandondonnelly.bsky.social Where are the Data Centres in METRO Vancouver? Where will the next ones go? And how do we manage all that energy and heat waste? brandondonnelly.com/data-center-...
Vancouver's Broadway Plan rental incentives are creating FAR MORE AFFORDABILITY than what exists on the ground today, creating an enormous redevelopment multiple vs existing units.
Heres' the Studio
The Broadway Plan is generating affordable housing. New Policy requires factual comparisons of alternatives, how they fit with local incomes and impact financial viability. Here's Liveable City Planning's math:
lnkd.in/gGsbfaeP
1) Are foreign investors really at the heart of our housing market problems? 2) Why is CPP more heavily invested in rental housing ABROAD vs Canada? 3) Can we use the energy + capital of foreign investors like the Australians do by restricting new investment to new RESI real estate only?
Thoughts?
An old summary article I prepared years ago remains relevant.
1/ Vancouver is land constrained ...
2/ Metro Vancouver's population is growing
3/ We need to focus on housing price stability
4/ We can't have low housing prices & low density
wordpress.com/post/michael...
Yes to this and also praise for the families of lovely, timeless, basic, durable, well-built, middle-market “background” buildings that house people in comfort and amenity. Everything we need; nothing we don’t.
Douglas Todd (Van Sun) suggests multifam apts are a "disconnect" b/c a survey shows '43% prefer detached homes; only 22% want apartments'. Such cognitive dissonance. A bit of financial literacy needed .... Far less than 10% of Vancouver households can afford a detached home based on income.
I'd be broken!