This is a written version of a speech that COPE councillor Jean Swanson delivered in a January 13 Zoom call to party supporters and various media people:
“I’ve been pondering for a while. Should I retire, or should I keep working for housing, renter protections, ending homelessness, racial and Indigenous justice, climate action, and supporting working and low-income folks in the city?
B.C. Housing Minister David Eby suggested he might use that stick with municipalities that refuse to acknowledge there is a housing supply problem that needs to be addressed.
B.C. Housing Minister David Eby is threatening to bring a financial hammer down on municipalities that do not cooperate in addressing the province’s housing affordability crisis.
Eby told a conference on affordable housing on Monday that his government “could withhold funding for programs if a municipality refuses to work on the supply challenge.”
"The City of Vancouver has added more housing units per capita than any city in North America over the last 30 years yet housing prices have increased faster in Vancouver than any other North American city." — Patrick Condon
Housing advocates are expected to urge government officials to devote more effort to acquiring land for affordable housing rather than just building affordable housing units during a three-day conference starting Monday.
The link below is to the text of a letter from City of Burnaby Lawyer Greg McDade to the Canadian Energy Regulator (CER) objecting to the regulator's decision to grant Trans Mountain permission, going far beyond what Trans Mountain even requested, to destroy any trees in Burnaby for whatever reasons for the indeterminate future. Can you say "captured regulator?"
The bylaw is sold as a way to create new rentals. Council should insist what’s built reflects real incomes.
Aproposal to rezone about half of the city for rental housing finally lands on council floor for public hearing today, Nov. 2. It has a seemingly benign title: A Bylaw to amend Zoning and Development Bylaw No. 3575 Regarding Residential Rental Tenure in C-2 Districts and New Residential Rental District Schedules.
[Note: Mine was just one of many, sometimes very eloquent, presentations to Council on the topic Future of False Creek South: Advancing a Conceptual Development Plan and Addressing Lease Expiries. The meeting extendedover three days because of the large number of presentation, (over 170 signed up to speak), and only very few were in favour of the plan. The presentations may be viewed/heard on the videos of the Council here starting on Oct.
