Helen LW
@helenlw_
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she/her | reformed geography major advocating for density, abundant homes & bike lanes | tweets my own | Host of
Unceded MST territory
Joined May 2013
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Last Seen Profiles
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I want to build homes on private property: 😡😡😡😡
I want to put my car, which you can’t use, on public property & you should help pay for it: 🤩🤩🤩🤩
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So many people have said this before:
If you don’t build homes for people who make $300k, $200k, $100k (or the homes you can’t afford), then you’re making them compete for housing with you (for homes you can afford).
Justin Trudeau says he’s building homes — yeah — luxury condos you can’t afford.
With his plan — developers get rich, you get gouged.
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If you block new homes for folks w a $100k household income then they’ll be competing for market & non-market homes w folks on a $50k household income
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New “affordable” homes cost the SAME as new market homes except for the subsidies for the project. Subsidies are gov’t funds, not random goodwill of less profit or less expensive finishes.
🧵👇
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NIMBYs: no apartments, they’re bad for children
Also NIMBYs: no childcare either
Residents mounted campaign against allowing 8 more kids to play in their neighbourhood for ~45 hrs/week
Homeowners complained re: parking, noise of “children playing” & threatened to sue the City if they approved a daycare
City hall rejected the daycare
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Could the folks who demand affordable homes stop opposing affordable homes pls
Thx
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A whole group of planners, architects, politicians & other “professionals” in N America spent the last 10-40+ yrs curating our current housing & climate crises.
So excuse me if I don’t believe that their expert opinion is the way to a more equitable & better future.
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The insane mental gymnastics some will do to avoid admitting that detached housing is the MOST unaffordable housing is… astonishing
You could literally make detached housing zones ANYTHING else (except for outright ban of any building) and it’d have a net positive effect
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Municipalities: the housing crisis isn’t our fault & other levels of government should fix it!
Province: let’s do province wide up zoning for the density we need
Federal: we’ll chip in funding too if you make it easier to add that density
Municipalities: no not like that
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everyone loves to be like "omg oh no imaginary seniors being forced out of their homes with only 2M of equity"
but no one is like "omg oh no current and future generations forced out of their home and city and region with no equity"
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ppl live in homes on stolen land, wearing for profit clothes drinking for profit coffee then drive to the council mtgs in their for profit cars to oppose homes folks can actually afford bc "the environment & pRoFiT!!!" & then cite Barcelona where they flew to last summer
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So I had the displeasure of reading this article today, and every time I see this author I wonder why
@TheTyee
doesn't just talk to the many knowledgeable folks who actually work in non-market housing
So here's a run down 🧵that no one asked for
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I wrote a little thing about density in the Straight 😄
6 floors and corner stores!
In this print issue,
@helenlw_
makes an argument that urban density can change our city for the better, working towards a healthier, more sustainable, and more vibrant community accessible to everyone.
Pick up your free copy at a newsstand near you to read the full commentary.
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nobody:
another old white planner dude: I have been a planner since 1973 and I put in this fountain which was instrumental to this neighbourhood’s success which the queen blessed and I am the recipient of the most prestigious awards
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To celebrate Friday, here is a *fun* thread about some of the wonderful hiccups I've experienced when trying to build new homes, and I think about them often when people ask "but how is this process broken"?
So now you get to share that frustration too
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🧵👇
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My 1st yr at UBC consisted of a 2 hr commute each way, which easily became 3 hrs if I missed the 30min frequency bus at 22nd station
That was 4-5 hrs a day, 20 WHOLE HRS A WEEK
I couldn’t pull up my bootstraps harder bc I was literally busy getting passed by the 3rd full 49 bus
it's actually very reasonable to not want to commute for three hours per day and we should figure out a way to organize cities so that fewer people have to do that
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Single family zoning has created decades of wealthy disparity & exorbitant amounts of intergenerational wealth for primarily whiter, older & more upper class folks.
But all of the sudden they are concerned about wealth inequity when we want to add homes in a housing shortage?
As the BCgov debates its bill allowing multiplexes on single-family lots,
@AdamPOlsen
asks: What wealth is being created by the move, who stands to benefit and will this grow the gulf between the have and have-nots?
My latest in
@TheOrcaBC
@Glacier_Media
:
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we want people to bike or transit but we can’t put in bike lanes or transit bc that would slow down cars and we can’t get rid of cars bc drivers don’t have good bike or transit options
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‘“I don’t think people who live in this neighbourhood should be punished because their house prices have gone up.” The same logic would dictate that they should not reap those tremendous gains when they sell […] but you never hear anyone arguing that point.’
@michellecyca
It’s clear there’s an identity crisis playing out among property owners who do not understand—or refuse to accept—that their assets confer upon them a status that makes Canadians squirm: rich.
@michellecyca
explores:
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Which city has the worst NIMBYs?
Bring your receipts, I want chaos today
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Those folks who oppose new homes by citing “OMG SHADOWS” better not be seen outside this summer with a hat or sunglasses or god forbid, under a tree at any park
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The cost to build a new 6 storey “affordable” apartment is the same as the cost to build a 6 storey market apartment. There may be slight + or - in the finishes & a small portion of fees might be waived for affordable projects, but these aren’t what makes them “affordable”.
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everyone pearl clutching about Shaughnessy yelling "pReSerVe HeRitAGe!!" really be pretending like there isn't a whole ass continent on the other side of the Atlantic that's been preserving stuff while adding density for like, literally centuries before Vancouver existed
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Planners taking 10 years to draft a plan that takes 5 years to consult only to result in 0 viable buildings in said plans is what’s driving younger generations away and hollowing out communities
Doing nothing is much worse than doing something good but not perfect
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So if you’re asking for us to just only build “the right supply”, or to only build the “affordable” homes, or only the homes at the “right prices”, then all you’re doing is literally asking gov’ts to provide more subsidies on more or all projects.
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LOL wow
@VancouverSun
has really lost the plot if the whole premise of this piece is based on a deep dissection of a meme
Pro tip: you may want to look at the NIMBY crowd at any public hearing to know what is not “progressive”
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The “affordability” comes from gov’t subsidies or low cost financing, usually in the order of millions on such size of a project, AND usually, free land (which is also in the order of 10’s of millions +).
w/o them, the new homes literally are the same as new “condos”
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We should not have design panels during a housing crisis. The little to 0 value they add do not outweigh the negative impact of the months to sometimes yr of delay they add on project timelines.
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Don't love resubmitting a permit application for the 5th time in 12 mths bc someone can't decide on the best colour/feel/spot of the siding/entrance/hedges/roofline/(enter random aesthetic thing)
@ 1.5% cost escalation/mth that really is more important than affordability i guess
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how much affordability would free up if boomers living in over housed mansions just sold their homes at the affordable price they bought it at & not 100x that price
oh wait no it’s those new apartments making everything so expensive
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not the same people who think Senakw isn’t the way indigenous development should be done
Even tho there's
@Canucks
hockey tonight there are a lot of people in Kits Neighbourhood House concerned about impacts of the Broadway Plan on Kits and surrounding neighbourhood. I'm here as a speaker b/c notwithstanding the hsg crisis, a tenfold increase in density is wrong! :(
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Housing minister
@KahlonRav
just defined "bus exchange" for the new TOD legislation to mean places with "2 or more bus connections"?!?!?!
BASED👑
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It's very apparent that anyone who says our housing crisis "isn't a supply problem" has never had:
1. try to build any housing that isn't a detached mansion
2. try to look for new housing in the last decade
At this point if that's your take, then your privilege is showing
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I’d like to ask the city for an immediate approval for up to 6 storeys by right (no RZ req’d) for every single lot across Vancouver for any non-profit below market hsg.
Surely if you oppose this you can’t say you support affordable hsg?
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@gurinder_67
@blurr_65
Lollllll literally vpd is a city issue and the vpd are besties with the current city ABC councillors who are about as far from NDP as it gets
I guess bots can’t read the room my bad
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Thank you housing minister
@KahlonRav
for chatting with me today! I especially loved sharing our experiences of my home town - North Delta.
I’m stoked to share our discussion in an upcoming episode of - stay tuned for our season 2 launch! ✌️
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did ABC remove the bike lane so that cllr
@BrianVMontague
can commute to work faster bc he lives in
*checks notes*
North Van
as a sitting councillor for Vancouver
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👋Want more affordable hsg? Want to see lower rents on affordable hsg projects, & bigger units? Curious how gov'ts support building/investing in affordable hsg?
Here's a 🧵for you, based on my personal exp, & an example breakdown
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For all the rando anon accounts & trolls, or anyone else w/ grand conspiracies about how this all works but has never developed or built or had anything to do with new homes, I will not be responding to you, bc I don’t argue about math w/ people who didn’t study math. 👍
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We have SO many younger/jr planning staff who understand that we’ve had decades of limiting supply to preserve & prioritize car-based, very low density sprawl, and are applauding all the amazing recent changes & action from the province
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I guarantee you there are many junior staff bashing their heads against the wall in complete disagreement
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new housing minister aka new f around and find out minister
🔥🔥🔥
In light of a proposed development cost charge increase by Metro Van, I‘ve postponed today’s announcement of Housing Accelerator Fund deals with 2 cities who are members of the Metro Van board.
We’re studying the impacts of this proposal and I hope to have more to say soon.
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I read this so you don't have to bc why would you do that to yourself. Here is another 🧵 on this that no one asked for.
TLDR: no, munis, you don't get a participation award
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Orgs like non-profits have missions to provide below market homes, so they do “affordability” & apply for gov’t funds & subsidies. They pay the same costs for everything on said project, they just then get subsidies.
For everyone else, free land does not fall from trees.
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NIMBYs will oppose density, daycares & retail in their n’hoods bc “omg concrete so bad and what about trees & the environment” but fly business class yearly to Europe so they can tell you how much more superior it was
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There's a deep obsession w/ the detached house; it's engrained in our regulations, planning, as well as our culture & societal norms.
We'll need to challenge these if we really want to prioritize diverse, inclusive, liveable & sustainable communities.
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Vancouver elxn results feels like we traded NIMBYs for cops
the next 4 yrs is gonna be many folks expecting more police shoving the “problem” away fr their n’hood = how to regain their feeling of “middle class” who don’t deserve to “see” the problems that cops can’t solve
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BC:
✅ban short term rentals
✅eliminate exclusionary zoning
✅Multiplexes + density + transit
✅Single stair
✅Mass timber
✅more homes for people!
Ontario:
we must make more land 🤪
A new study by
@MGP_Plan
that we commissioned in partnership with the
@OntarioHBA
identifies there is insufficient land to meet future housing needs in the
#GTHA
and
#GGH
:
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This means they still pay for consultants, contractors, municipal fees, interest, property taxes, & a whole list of other things. And yes, non-profits AND gov’t orgs also pay themselves a fee to act as a developer. Yes it’s real; that’s literally what I did for a non-profit.
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In the meantime, we also need to build WAY more market homes, bc market will still houses many folks. If we don’t do this, we add MORE pressure to limited gov’t funding for housing, & add MORE people to the portion of society that need to rely on non-market homes.
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I love that we’re finally really asking questions about a whole lot of planning *assumptions* that are actually impractical.
Shade is GOOD.
The /skincare subreddit has a healthy 2.4M people who can back my claim…
🧵
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How one idea - a fear of shade - came to rule urban design, and why we urgently need to rethink that. My piece:
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New homes just cost what new homes cost (aka all the costs req’d on new projects). The affordability for non-market homes is determined by the gov’t funding available at the time. When the gov’t funding isn’t enough to make them below-market rents, the project doesn’t happen
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The history of restrictive zoning was discriminatory, and the current restrictions continue to have a negative impact on affordability. I did a piece on this in the
@georgiastraight
:
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Another thread on the recent BC provincial legislation to encourage multiplexes & transit oriented development (or general density), that no one asked for.
Comments re concerns about the free market, greed & profit, and housing wealth.
🧵👇
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Folks are arguing that Jagmeet is just saying “fed lands should have more affordability”. And yes, true.
But his whole “luxury condos are bad” thing is so toxic to the whole discussion it almost makes the former message ring hollow.
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Someone said don’t threaten me with a good time and the minister said bet
🔥🔥🔥
Another important step - finding ways to build differently. ✅
The province will lead a discussion over the next year to update the BC Building Code to explore enabling single egress stairs, that will allow some buildings to be built more efficiently.
👉🏾
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A few certain people in Burnaby are losing their minds over this recent provincial announcement about housing & it’s a good bar to set for future proposals
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"SUDDENLY YOU WAKE UP & THERE'S A 6 STOREY BUILDING NEXT TO YOU"
Scenario A: you're sleeping beauty
Scenario B: development & building permits now processed within 8 hrs, fab
*side note, if that were even remotely true we'd probably not have a housing crisis right now
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Do I think we need more gov’t funding & investment in affordability? YES. We should see WAY more funding from ALL levels of gov’t. Do I think that will happen anytime soon? I don’t know, but this is something I (& many others) advocate for
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The so called “retired professional architect/planner/name + letters” lobby relentless pursues a line that we don’t have multiple urgent hsg+climate+inequity crises while being comfortably housed/wealthy & defending status quo “density is bad! protect mansions/SFH landowners!”
The so-called “abundant housing” lobby relentlessly pursues a line that more rental capacity automatically equals lower rents and more affordable housing. But last year...
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My point is, new homes just cost what they cost. Affordability is driven by gov’t grants & funding available, not arbitrarily set by whoever is developing/building the homes.
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This being rejected by the city of Vancouver really shows how unserious the city is about the housing crisis, housing options, & missing middle.
To cite “liveability” as a concern while literally not approving homes to live is just… bad.
Our tiny lot goes to the BOV this afternoon… wish us luck!
Thanks to everyone who has written to express their support.
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There’s been a lot of fear & misinfo about the new provincial housing initiatives, so I wrote a little piece w/ some data looking at what they actually mean.
@georgiastraight
@vb_jens
@denisagar
(Spoiler: the incoming TOD legislation is good for us!)
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Maybe I’m just strange but I kinda think that if the govt keeps saying we need a lot more below market housing then THEY SHOULDN’T MAKE IT SO FRICKIN HARD TO DO
Just a thought
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Imagine trying to be relatable by rephrasing “I own a west side mansion” as “poor me I also rent but from the bank”
Bonus Twitter-only content: Sim initially described his neighbourhood as "outside of Kitsilano." He lives in Point Grey, near Jericho Park.
When I asked whether he rents or owns, he said "I rent from the bank."
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Having worked on both non-market & market homes, my exp is that non-market is WAY harder (& often way less efficient). Therefore I’m not super optimistic about the idea that we can just suddenly exponentially increase our non-market sector. But we need to.
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There’s a common theme where the folks who are scream “gov subsidized/non profit/below market housing only!” are also the ones who often don’t actually want to hear from the folks doing this work
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Do people think that developing non profit or non market housing requires different processes or regulations? Like there’s some special affordable zoning bylaw w/ 2 instead of 2000 hoops?
Like do they think as soon as we find our pot of funds then BAM social housing everywhere?
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Was at trout lake park yesterday and literally only the geese were in the unshaded areas. Why are we still spending HOURS at public hearings debating shadows at parks?!??
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People opposing the
#broadwayplan
citing “affordable housing” then turn around and literally oppose a proposed affordable housing project.
Then they cite “climate crisis” to oppose buildings and then drive to the next thing they’re opposing.
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The muni level of govt arguably has the most impact on housing & affordability bc it determines how many homes get built & how quickly.
So many projects & homes are asked to *justify* why they’re needed & w/ what colours/height for yrs while affordability goes down the drain.
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Went to this yesterday and happened to chat with a NIMBY who “happened” to tag along
It reminded me that though I’m surrounded by many amazing folks who want the best for all, there’s still a lot of folks who don’t
🧵1/
It's a beautiful, sunny day for a walking tour of exclusionary mansion zoning at UBC.
If you're coming on the tour, this map of the University Endowment Lands might be helpful to follow along.
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NIMBYs don’t want lots of new housing so they can charge you market rates for their old and not up to code mortgage helper
Because why would anyone buy a 2009 bike for the price of a 2023 brand new one
unless
there are little to no new ones
Here's, for me, the biggest surprise turn of the U.S. apartment sector in 2023:
Class B apartments have been more impacted by supply than even Class A. In high-supply submarkets, Class B rents are down more than 2x Class A. Yet in no-supply submarkets, they're equals.
I was
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Uh could the
@VancouverSun
or Todd maybe try talking to literally anyone who actually takes transit ever
and no I don't mean the "I took a bus once in 1983 and lemme tell ya..."
Douglas Todd: There are cons, not just pros, for a subway to UBC
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minister Ravi Kahlon 🤝 minister Sean Fraser
best timeline
While we are investing billions in transit infrastructure across B.C., outdated rules are slowing down the delivery of homes next to SkyTrain stations and major bus exchanges.
Homes near transit and services that people rely on.
Today, I introduced a Bill to fix this.
🧵 [1/4]
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It’s so nice of folks to just shout “social housing everywhere only!” but then not support any actual proposed said projects nor the funds to actually make them feasible
Like gee thanks, lemme just take your internet likes and build some homes real quick
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You can't talk about housing affordability w/o first addressing the overwhelming majority of Vancouver that is set aside exclusively for the most unaffordable & unsustainable form of housing.
Tomorrow, our
@christineeboyle
is going on CKNW to talk about this image.
That's the amount of land set aside in Vancouver for single-family homes, which can cost millions of dollars.
Do you think that's fair? We don't.
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The fed & province are FINALLY aligned on a focus on housing supply
Then metro van turns around & slaps an insane increase to their fees AND added new fees
Can we pls get our sh*t together & stop punting all the costs on new homes?!
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My friend Aaron Johnson & I started a new podcast! Our aim is to create a resource for folks to learn more our built environment.
Ep 1 & 2 are out featuring
@chellers95
&
@AlbertHuangZG
; episodes will be uploaded weekly!
Follow in your podcast app or at
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Can you believe
@MovementYVR
is trying to make public transit better
Like what’s the end game? Frequent and fast transit service for the everyone? Scary stuff!!!
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Finally some action to feel inspired & hopeful about ❤️
We all deserve access to homes, in all communities & neighbourhoods, and there’s no better way than to leverage the great transit & amenities we already have.
British Columbia just became a leader in Canada by passing Transit Oriented Development legislation! 🍁
Building more homes near transit is good for people, communities, and helps make the most of transit, infrastructure and services. 🚆
🧵[1/3]
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When the gov tries to do big moves to address the housing shortage & crisis SO MORE PEOPLE CAN HAVE SECURE HOUSING BC THEY CURRENTLY DON’T, the collective reaction from the folks ALREADY IN SECURE HOUSING is “oh but what about me”
A big question that remains is whether the BC NDP’s upzoning legislation will result in inflated property values - and therefore higher taxes - for home owners since properties, including some homes, are assessed on highest and best use.
#bcpoli
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In light of the latest twitter news:
There’s a group that runs a small discord server; we discuss all things urbanism (mostly BC but not limited). It includes housing, city engagement, cycling, parks, climate action, & more! Please DM w a short intro about you if interested😊
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👀
Today, we released Policy Manuals and Regulations to support the implementation of our Transit-Oriented Development and Small-Scale Multi-Unit legislation.
The housing market is not working, and these changes are needed to address the crisis.
👉🏾
🧵[1/5]
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People will bend over backwards with insane mental gymnastics to justify excluding people from being able to live in our cities.
Cities are made of people, and lots of them. Denser living in our cities is more equitable, sustainable, & affordable.
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Vancouver has been so lucky to have
@christineeboyle
on council, and I am beyond excited to see her run provincially to further important action on climate, transit, housing, and affordability. ❤️
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The proposed
@MetroVancouver
DCC rate hikes & calculation method will only further social inequity & housing unaffordability. Growth is already paying for growth, and it should not be subsidizing wealthy homeowners.
@georgiastraight
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Went to the city open house ytd & a convo I had w 1 of the staff gave off so many 🚩🚩🚩
I get this isn’t representative of all staff (many are fantastic), but it left me pretty depressed & doubtful abt our city’s ability to do anything meaningful
(Quotes are paraphrased)
🧵
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Abundant & affordable housing isn’t a left/right thing - it’s a “do I believe everyone deserves housing affordable to them in neighbourhoods they want to be in” thing
And right now there’s a bunch of arbitrary regulations that prohibit that from happening, like zoning
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On a new rental project, someone wanted me to make my 19 storey building look less like a 19 storey building using different methods of sculpting the building so that each floor had a different footprint that didn't align, so that it would be more "interesting" for pedestrians
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No one asked but I'm gonna share anyway:
I voted for
@MrMatthewNorris
@iona_bonamis
@christineeboyle
@ICromwell4Van
@russilwvong
@TesiccaT
@DulcyAnderson
@seanorr
@LesliBoldt
and Honieh Barzegari for council +
@kennedystewart
for mayor
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I think a lot of folks wonder why we don't have a stronger/more robust non-market housing sector especially when it comes to adding new non-market housing
& I think the majority of folks don't realize just how difficult it is for this sector, especially now
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