Today is a good day to announce pre-orders on my new book "Home Truths: Fixing Canada's Housing Crisis". 20% off pre-orders with code HOME20. Available October 15!
@bnaibrithcanada
1. That’s not the Main St Library.
2. ‘if I must die’ certainly doesn’t ‘glorify martyrdom’.
3. Refaat Alareer was murdered by the barbarous genocidal regime you are defending.
4. His words will live on. You’ll have to justify defending genocide.
5. You do not speak in my name.
thinking about how radically different multifamily housing in switzerland is... light on more than 1 side. 4 bedroom housing. generous balconies. shades.
proposal for a re-intensification of an existing settlement by atelier 5 (yes, that very same)
At the moment,
@PierrePoilievre
is the only political leader offering a coherent (although wrong) analysis of (1) what the housing problem is; (2) why is has happened; (3) what needs to happen to solve it. So clutch your pearls, 'cause I'm going to seriously engage with it. 1/12
I agree. From a communications perspective:
✅ Bold take on a vital issue Canadians care about
✅ Explaining a complex issue with visuals
✅ Providing clear solutions
Do I agree with those solutions? No.
Would I love a real political debate with bold counter-visions? Yes.
Canada’s population more than doubled 1901-1941. It more than doubled again 1941-81. Ot hasn’t come close to doubling since then. So why is immigration suddenly the whipping boy for lousy housing policy?
Strap yourselves in for a Carolyn rant. This is why
@PierrePoilievre
is right - & why he's wrong. And this is why
@liberal_party
&
@NDP
are going to get TROUNCED in the next election, unless they change their course. 1X
As I said a couple of days ago, the most egregious falsehood about the
@PierrePoilievre
Housing Hell video is the claim this current government caused the housing crisis. My brilliant
@ubcHART
colleague Craig E Jones whipped up this little graph on housing starts by govt 1/4
Downloading responsibility for social housing from the level of govt with the most $ & power to the level of govt with the least $ & power was a bad idea 30 years ago. It continues to be a bad idea.
The truth is that every time someone suggests taxing wealth, the conservative response is ‘those poor pensioners’! A combination of tax deferral until sale (used for property taxes) & subsidies to subdivide might help low income owners. But low income renters are more numerous..
Between this Vancouver dud, Toronto’s Housing Now & Montréal’s recent inclusionary zoning record, it’s almost like relying on the market for affordable housing doesn’t work! Maybe try what has worked: directly financing / building non-market housing?
Seven years ago the City of Vancouver created its Moderate Income Rental Housing Pilot Program, intended to remove development fees in exchange for developers building non-market rentals.
Seven years later, not a single building has been completed.
The right-wing idea that businesspeople with no experience in governance can ‘fix things’ is the magical thinking that brought us Trump, Sim, Sutcliffe, & the opposite of good government.
The chaos around ABC in Vancouver was predicted. Ken Sim may be good at business but he’s never been elected to anything and it shows. Running a business is much simpler than running Vancouver. Sadly, Sim appears too arrogant to acknowledge his shortcomings and barrels ahead.
As an ex-Torontonian & lover of public space, I’m following the Ontario Place debacle with horrified fascination. Good cities are retrieving public space, not selling it off.
Translation: You spent $460 million to subsidize your rich friends at Lansdowne, $50 million for a cop shop, $160,000 for a night mayor, and got a new helicopter. You had money for transit, you blew it on junk items instead.
I have never ever celebrated a Yom Haatzmaut in my adult life. I’ve celebrated Rosh Hashonah (tashlich) & Hanukkah in public in Ottawa. Never a problem. Maybe it’s a celebration of Israel during a genocide & not a celebration of Judaism that’s the problem?
Like all residents of our city, Ottawa’s Jewish community deserves to gather whenever it chooses in an environment that is free from hate, violence, and racism. This is fundamental to a city that is free and democratic. Over the past two days, I have listened carefully to members
Then go radical b/c we need radical change:
* basic income
* max. non-market hsg on govt land
* land value tax
* supply supply supply
* curb home speculation by owners & investors
* renter rights & eviction prevention led federally
Get on it. Time is running out.
It’s the dirty little secret of housing policy - that the root of rapidly rising house prices is govts encouraging treating homeownership as an investment. And no government is willing to address it.
"The emphasis on increasing housing supply obscures an issue politicians are less likely to address. Namely, that we have become addicted to ever-rising home prices, largely because we've been conditioned to see our homes as financial assets."
In the days since my appearance on The Agenda, I've gotten lots of queries about how much non-profit housing is needed in Canada. Good question, which I'll approach 3 ways 1/11
So really, PP should be looking at reversing a set of mechanisms from the 1970s & 1980s that incentivized owners to treat their homes as investments & de-incented rental builders. 93% of taxes benefit homeowners, not renters. Tax change starts there 3/12
Stealth socialism alert: PP cites Singapore, where 90% of public land owned by the state, & 80% live in state-created housing as a good practice ! COMRADE! Appropriate all urban land, state-led homebuilding, allocate by need! Power 2 the ppl right on! 6/12
It flew under my radar until today, but
#Quebec
is putting ALL its Housing Accelerator Fund $ into non-market hsg. In fact, the province is matching fed funds (disbursed through the province, not directly by the feds). That's $1.8 billion. Bravo! 1/
And again I ask: if we can build genuinely affordable to low and moderate income household market developments in Germany, why can’t we in Canada? Why aren’t we even trying to meet this price point?
the rents for the 2BR units in the mass timber hybrid Carl average $1,100 per month.
light on 3 sides. a balcony. no windowless bedrooms. single stair.
yo. we're cooked.
Here's a quick recap of Bill 185, the Conservatives latest omnibus housing bill.
The Conservative’s many changes include a grab bag of measures that fix up some of their more terrible housing mistakes (I’m calling these wins) and spur the construction of some new housing,
Yep, simple zoning, 4-6 storey minimum, no limit on units. Get rid of every design nonsense rule that doesn’t support affordability accessibility, energy efficiency and SCALE. Not 3 years from now. Now.
The new mayor will need to act FAST AND FORCEFULLY to deliver the scale of housing needed in this city. For example, as recommended here, ‘apartment buildings of 50 units or more should be legal everywhere in the city – immediately.’
PP is dead wrong- a purely private-sector response will never end homelessness or help those most in need. So why is there is SILENCE from
@liberal_party
&
@NDP
on this? 12/
Finland counts everyone on social hsg waitlists+ standardized info from 209/295 municipalities on homelessness every year. Canada collects inconsistent data every 2nd yr from 59/727 mun. You can't solve homelessness without knowing who is homeless
The video starts w 2X home prices & rents & increasing homelessness since 2015. True. What's false is that this followed 'generations of stable home prices'. Actually, median home prices in relation to hh income started to rise in the 1980s & got out of control in 2000s. 2/12
These are the seniors I worry most about, renters reliant on inadequate pensions. Speaking as someone over 60: Take my taxes, including land value & property taxes that rise with speculation, & provide adequate housing options for all seniors.
Why I’m at this conference - Beyond NIMBY. A whole room of market developers being asked whether they are producing median income affordable rental at $2,100. No hands.
So...
@NDP
@liberal_party
you have your work cut out. Get better YouTube social media communicators. Agree that policy decisions of 30-50 years ago (I haven't even started on 1970s 'reform' downzoning) screwed Canada up. Agree that the status quo is unacceptable. Mea your culpa
And most of all,
@liberal_party
@NDP
why are you letting PP set the terms of the debate? The next fed election will be won on housing. Up your game or lose. 18/18
Completed in 2022, Seattle's 15th Ave Apartments feature (8) family-sized 3 and 4-bed units on a 40' wide lot in the walkable, transit rich U District
The 4-story project is illegal to build in most of the US because it only uses a single exterior stair for egress
"Helsinki owns 60,000 social housing units; one in seven residents live in city-owned housing. It also owns 70% of the land within the city limits, runs its own construction company, and has a current target of building 7,000 more new homes a year."
This tweet does
@NDP
no favours. Yes, large rental investors (including union-owned) have renovicted tenants (as have small landlords). Yes, rents (&house prices) have doubled. But that’s a patentedly WRONG statistic. Act like you can govern - it starts with good evidence.
The real rule is ‘having enough after rent/mortgage to pay for other necessities’. And it was 20% when 1st used in the 1940s. And is still 25% in QC. The real question being asked here is ‘how much can we squeeze low-income ppl’?
Today, I updated the BC Building Code to allow for Single Egress Stair (SES) designs in low- and mid-rise buildings.
By allowing SES, we will boost our housing supply and create more options for families who need larger layouts and designs.
👉🏾
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Sen̓áḵw is one of the most impactful housing projects in Canada.
It’s a partnership led by the Squamish First Nation, which is doing incredible work to develop their land for housing.
The project includes more than 6,000 new homes in Vancouver!
Many countries, including France & Finland, spend 1% of GDP on social hsg, precisely because ending homelessness saves $$. Canada spends 0.1%, mostly subsiding unaffordable market rental. It’s time for a better way.
@CHRA_ACHRU
@CAEHomelessness
@CHEC_CCRL
@SeanFraserMP
@ubcHART
Worth reposting. It drives me bananas when some lefties wave IZ like it’s a magic wand. It’s a neoliberal, ineffective approach. It harms production of new market rental. It doesn’t produce the quantum of deeply affordable housing we need. Build non-market directly!
In honour of yet again being called Far Right for criticizing Inclusionary Zoning, let's talk about why IZ is not my favourite way to fund "affordable" housing.
Inclusionary Zoning is popular because people think that it's a way to "force developers" to pay for affordable units.
This was actually my starting point into housing research. In my master’s thesis (U of T 1988) I wondered why ‘planning for violence prevention’ was all about street lights, rather than affordable housing & local women’s services. 36 years later, still wondering.
Accessible, affordable, secure HOUSING is a key DV PREVENTION strategy. If women can leave in the knowledge of housing security, & affordability, they will be safe. They will leave. I know this. And the perpetrators (or potential) perpetrators will come to know it too
#DVenough
Associate Housing Minister Robert Flack: “I just want a range of choices… I just want everyone to have a detached house with a yard… no one wants to bring up a child in downtown Toronto”.
@Colliers
Land & Development conference.
Housing is a direct federal responsibility, contrary to what Trudeau said. Here’s how the federal government can do better. By
@ubcHART
Alex Flynn
@AllardLaw
& me
Meanwhile, low income hsg need has stayed stable 1991-2016, some incr in owner stress. A huge temporary DECREASE in 2021, caused by CERB. So this natural experiment shows that basic income
@ubi_works
is the quickest way to decrease hsg precarity & homelessness in short term. 5/12
The Kits Point Residents Association court challenge vs. City of Vancouver to try and stop the Sen̓áḵw Development by Squamish Nation was dismissed. No relief given. Case closed.
The video talks about the influence of investors. EXCELLENT. You can charge capital gains for rapid house flipping & you can make banks, REITs & pension funds back new affordable hsg. PP brings it up then drops it - don't let him. 4/12
I can’t state strongly enough that lack of adequate hsg options is killing ppl daily. It is hard to work, even on the advocacy level, in hsg policy without regularly weeping, as I discovered yesterday during a talk. A rich country is letting ppl die & it can break your heart.
Sigh, at the risk of being flamed by market-purist YIMBYs, public land SHOULD be set aside for non-market mixed-income housing. AND ALL land should be upzoned for PBR. Hulking out at the mere mention of ‘affordable’ ignores the key question of ‘affordable for whom’. 1/4
Public land should be used to build homes you can afford. Not make rich developers richer.
Justin Trudeau doesn't get it. He's out of touch with struggles he's never had to experience.
We need to build affordable homes on public lands - not luxury condos.
Villiers Island plans 9,000 homes on 33 hectares. Senakw plans 6,000 homes on 10.5 hectares with significant affordability & green space. Do better - like 20,000 homes.
@globeandmail
Right on
@alexbozikovic
. Why 6 storey only on noisy dangerous arterials? Why not everywhere within 800 metres of frequent transit? That’s what TO needs.
I agree with most of this. But I continue to object to the characterisation of
@oliviachow
as somehow inheriting a political dynasty like
@JustinTrudeau
. Olivia & Jack were both politicians when they met. She’s never traded on his name. She got where she is on her own.
My first for
@TheHubCanada
CANADA’S QUIET DESCENT INTO NEOFEUDALISM
The housing crisis is the most visible symptom of the disease afflicting Canadas economy.
One where incumbents and governments protect what they have at the cost of what could be.
Instead, focus on what you can do to give renters equal rights. Bully the provinces into long leases, no no-fault evictions, higher welfare, more supportive hsg & yes, rent regulation. Renter rights can't be sacrificed on the altar of more supply. 14/
But when it comes to solutions, it's all 'cut govt spending'. YAWN. Agreed on dvmt contributions - immoral to make new renters/buyers pay for infrastructure that serves all. How about land value tax? It is a market-based solution for greater density 8/12
CERB SAID $2,000 a month “was the minimum amount you had to be getting to be considered to be livable,” Mr. Salisbury said. “No disability program in the country is giving that.”
I’m going to add to
@MikePMoffatt
’s thread with my own rant. From its inception in the 1940s to the 1989s, the
@CMHC_ca
used income categories to analyse WHO needs WHAT housing WHERE at what COST. Not only does it no longer use the international measure of affordability 1/4
Why is
@liberal_party
is still droning on about protecting high values while making new ownership easy? Most ppl know that home prices would need to decrease by 2/3 across country, 3/4 in TO, 4/5 in Van to be an option for middle class, let alone low income. DROP THIS LIE. 13/
Mark my words, if the fed Libs don’t do something substantive on moderate income housing like tax reform for PBR, HUGE co-op program or affordability targets for provinces, they will die on that hill at the next election.
Dave Eby speaking passionately about the importance of acquiring land & buildings, not selling them, as many governments are doing. “It’s so clear how we got to homelessness. When governments started relying on the private market to meet everyone’s needs.”
#HousingCentral
Another thing that makes HUGE economic sense? More non-profit hsg on govt land! Don't sell your seed corn (land) - use it to kickstart the kind of hsg dvmt you want! Just like Singapore! 10/12
I find this notion that developers are somehow colluding to keep housing prices up by not building anything kind of comical. Like there's a smoke-filled room somewhere that developers are sitting in, plotting their next collective move. 1/3
Another reminder that when someone proposes city-building “like Paris” (usually a 7-8-storey equivalent due to high ceiling heights) as an alternative to taller buildings, the ACTUAL Paris model is 8 storey EVERYWHERE.
Across the entire city pattern.
I’d be ok with that. You?
Exciting meeting yesterday with the federal cabinet, discussing housing supply innovation& the role of nonmarket & Indigenous developers on govt land. So many examples abound:
@BCCLT
@SquamishNation
@OCH_LCO
@HabitatCanada
… Gave advance copies of my book to 2 ppl I hope read it!
We have a challenge in Canada. About 1 million students, very low income singles on welfare, & those who are homeless need homes at <$420/mo near transit, jobs, colleges. So yes, make these legal everywhere.
@karenannsom
I feel like MTL is improving housing, active & sustainable transit, public space & civic leadership. I want to live in a place that is getting better not worse. Like you, I’ve been shocked every time I return to TO & delighted with so much in MTL. I want to like my city.
With all respect to
@JessicaBellTO
&
@mjrichardson_to
, this provincial government land should have 100% non-market housing, with affordability for low to median income, on a community land trust as part of a high-rise mixed use development.
@SamHersh01
There was very little about housing. I’m continually gobsmacked at how poorly the NDP is articulating a vision for Canada with adequate housing healthcare & environmental sustainability. It’s like they don’t want to be elected?
Stop building shelters & start building permanent housing with supports. Getting turfed out of transitional housing after 2 years is part of the cycle of homelessness.
Stop building shelters and start building transitional homes.
Places with successful housing first programs actually have exceeding few shelters.
A shelter bed is not equivalent to a transitional home, which has private or semi private rooms and shared amenities like kitchens.
You hate min parking requirements? Talk to your fellow Conservative
@fordnation
- one of many rec he dropped from his own housing affordability task force. Again, great market based solutions 9/12
Ford: I totally trust municipalities. They should get to decide about how to build housing.
Trudeau: Okay, we'll give them the money if you're not going to deal with it.
Ford: 🤯
@NDP
. COME ON. Why is
@theJagmeetSingh
prioritizing owners over renter rights? BC is most pro-supply province, build on that. Income-based targets, public land to scale up non-market hsg & tax change to lessen wealth disparities 16/
A few months ago, I worried that
@liberal_party
was losing the housing plot. They've smartened up their comms folks, that's for sure! And as for
@fordnation
, I do wonder where
@ScottAAitchison
&
@PierrePoilievre
are on a fellow Conservative who contradicts their recent messaging.
Warning: the following images of fourplexes may frighten some politicians.
They want to make sure these family homes remain illegal to build.
Maybe my elder millennial is showing, but these homes in great locations look like good options to me!
Worried about homeless students? Push provinces to provide free tertiary education along with generous student hsg like Germany, my Conservative friend! It makes economic sense! Ask Merkel! 7/12