Who should pay for the costs of densifying? Should growth pay for growth? Taxes on new infill homes are counterproductive in a housing crisis, writes @jacksandor.bsky.social
#yyj #bcpoli #vanpoli #bc
I know this doesn't address everything but I don't have time to reply to it all
REITs and other real estate investors certainly know this, and they use it to make money all the time. I actually wrote a blog post about this: www.jacksandor.ca/blog/what-re...
3. I'm not happy that housing is subject to market forces either. I think it's a stupid and bad way to do things. But housing *is* subject to market forces, whether we want that to be the case or not. The rules don't exist simply because we refuse to acknowledge them.
2. A lot of the problems you describe are just inherent to capitalism. That's not to defend them, but it is to say that they can't actually be fixed under our current economic model, and abolishing global capitalism isn't exactly in-scope for even the federal govt, let alone provincial or local
The vast, vast, vast majority of the cost for new homes is the land, permitting, and non-negotiable construction costs, like meeting the building code. That's primarily why new homes are so expensive. Take a look at construction costs for nonprofits, there's no secret 90% profit margin here.
1. The cost of new homes has basically nothing to do with finishes, and 99% of new homes aren't luxurious at all. They're advertised that way because who wants to pay $600k for a "budget friendly" home. So they tack on some nice countertops and call it luxury.
Man that's a lot of text lol. Don't have time to reply to all of it, but here's some quick hits:
Nobody thinks that more market housing is the *only* thing we need, we obviously need much more than just that, the reason discourse centers around market housing so much is because that's the part people actually disagree about.
In fact, it helps a lot! Dense infill housing generates way more tax revenue than the single family homes it replaces, giving the government more money to spend on building public and social housing (or whatever else the govt chooses to do with the money).
I'm of course in favor of a massive expansion of public and social housing, while part of @homesforliving.ca I advocated for that directly to the province (they clearly ignored us lol), but allowing market housing does nothing to stop us from building more public housing.
Also worth noting that trickle down is explicitly "let's give public money to rich people" while this is "let's allow housing to be built".
This is different from trickle down because rich people can't physically inhabit multiple points in space simultaneously, whereas they can just continue to hoard money as much as they want. If you move in to a new place, you must move out of the old one, but this isn't true of getting more money.
This is my city right here - a city for everyone.
It’s time for our general meeting! Sign up as a member so you can help us choose our new executive for the year and get an inside update on what we’ve been up to! #yyj
Where: 708 Douglas St
When: April 23rd at 6pm.
We will be moving to the pub at 7:30.
actionnetwork.org/events/bette...
This week, Victoria will be considering a grant of $677k to help finance the conversion of a near-complete apartment building to a non-market co-operative.
It’s the 179-unit Tresah building near Mayfair. The developers fell on hard times and had to sell.
vicnews.com/2026/04/13/n...
Great energy articles in @theglobeandmail.com this weekend. "The only real defence against the next oil war, in whatever form it takes, is alternative forms of energy." www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...
@fixie.bsky.social
This point goes severely under-discussed in talking about the housing crisis. I've also been forced to live in moldy substandard housing. It's tempting to keep piling "nice to haves" on to new housing, but when it reduces the amount of new housing we get, many suffer in old, often dangerous, housing
Seconding this, @holz-bau.bsky.social is an excellent follow for all things urbanism, but especially livable and affordable housing.
It's also worth noting that this isn't a new or radical idea. Many, many places around the world have already done this and have not seen the negative consequences that critics predict. We're not breaking new ground here, we're following in the footsteps of others that have had success.
I would recommend checking out these two videos as a good introduction to the subject. Single stair buildings can actually be significantly safer in many cases, as it puts most residents much closer to an exit staircase than most dual-stair designs.
youtu.be/iRdwXQb7CfM?...
youtu.be/ozwkP9Zsi0Y?...
Hopefully it passes, dense infill like this is one of the best tools we have to help the environment
Thank you to the neighbours who’ve started this fundraising campaign for Stadacona Park’s playground, which was destroyed by arson.
Please consider donating and/or sharing.
www.gofundme.com/f/help-resto...
YIMBY Edmonton councillor reading landlord Facebook groups about the effect of new housing supply on the housing market:
“I don’t think anyone expected this many units to hit the market at the same time”, “tenants have options”, “you have to be realistic about pricing”, “free months of rent”.
Agreed. We already have laws against public intoxication and generally being a nuisance.
Its not to late to reverse course. In fact restoring or growing SRSP program is an easy government win. It actually saves money by diverting from the emergency health care & #homelessness management systems in an efficient way. #bcpoli futureofgood.co/bc-governmen...
Just a reminder that the last announcement like this in BC - a new rapid transit corridor gets funding - was in 2018, when the Broadway subway and Surrey LRT funding was confirmed. (the LRT project was later converted to SkyTrain and reduced in scope).
This trend is particularly acute in Oak Bay but the truth here is relevant to the entire region!
Neighbourhoods will change regardless, it’s up to us to ensure they support residents through every phase of their lives.
