Housing Assessment Resource Tools (HART)

Land use and governance in British Columbia | Housing Assessment Resource Tools (HART) Land Use and Governance in British Columbia is a comprehensive review of the laws, policies, and systems that govern how land is used across the province. The report lays the groundwork for…

95% of BC's land is publicly owned — yet there's no system to turn it into housing. Our new report identifies the gaps and charts a path forward. Six practical recommendations. Real solutions. Read it here 👇
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#bcpoli #urbanism #housing

💰️ Remarkably, CMHC makes the claim that rental affordability has decreased as a result of inflationary pressures, without acknowledging the financialization of housing at all, as if the ongoing narrative that housing should yield returns don't harm everyone in the system.

📉 Even more affordable markets like Montreal and Edmonton have seen significant deterioration of affordability since 2022.
🏘️ CMHC confirms that higher vacancy overall does not necessarily mean vacancy of affordable units, and lower income folks are less likely to experience relaxations in rent.

Beyond Toronto and Vancouver: Housing affordability challenges in Canada Chief Economist Mathieu Laberge examines how housing affordability challenges have spread to cities like Ottawa, Montréal and Halifax, with insights from CMHC's new Housing Affordability Index.

CMHC's new Housing Affordability Index is out, here's some key takeaways:
💲 It shows that any improvements that we've seen in rents and home costs over the last several months are not the return to affordability that some have claimed.

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Who is the city for? | Housing Assessment Resource Tools (HART) To live in a city — and to benefit from its transit, infrastructure, retail, and public amenities — is to share space with others. So why do some people get an outsized say in how that space is…

Who is the city for? Our latest blog looks at how housing engagement processes consistently amplify the voices of those who already have secure housing — and sideline the people who need it most. 🏙️

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The City Promised to Protect Broadway Tenants. How’s That Working Out? | The Tyee Residents say they’ve faced payment delays when dealing with one relocation company that also has ties to a developer. A Tyee investigation.

“The social acceptance of the Broadway Plan, and the pretty major redevelopment that’s going to happen as a result, depends on these policies working as they’re meant to work."

@ubchart.bsky.social Dr. Craig Jones comments on Vancouver’s Tenant Relocation and Protection Policy

Insights: Are rents really going down in B.C.? If you follow the news, you might think the rental crisis in B.C. is easing. Recent headlines paint an optimistic picture:  B.C. rents continue downward trend, down nearly six per cent: Report…

CMHC's data tracking vacancy rates by rent quartile shows us what many renters experience: higher vacancy rates (and the falling rents that often accompany them) are concentrated in the most expensive units. That means that for the vast majority of people in need, there's no relief.
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Douglas Todd: Jarring 18-storey tower on leafy Vancouver street a sign of the out-of-scale times Douglas Todd: Jarring 18-storey tower on leafy Vancouver side street sign of the times. Read more.

Community note: this intersection is a 5 minute walk from a major skytrain station, a main street full of shops, restaurants, and community space, and a mall that would all significantly benefit from the additional residents.

'Monstrosities' or the evolution of housing? Multi-unit buildings on single-family lots gain traction in B.C. cities 'Monstrosities' or the evolution of housing? Multi-unit buildings on single-family lots are gaining traction in B.C. cities.

Small, multi-family housing is an absolutely necessary salve to a painful and deepening crisis of housing and affordability. Some municipal governments regularly reject desperately needed housing in their communities because of a deeply lopsided community engagement model.

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The model of suburban-style living in within city limits is both outdated and expensive - single family homes cost more to service, they often have more cars per home, and they contribute far less to their communities per sq ft than multi-family #housing.
#canpoli #urbanism #onpoli

Globe editorial: The cost of Toronto’s free riders The federal government revoking part of the city’s housing money highlights a split between suburbs and old city

"The older areas are carrying the weight of change while suburban residents enjoy the upsides of city life without bearing their share of the burden."

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This is the only way Toronto will ever truly tackle its homelessness problem Without federal and provincial support, Toronto can only do so much.

The idea that cities can "solve homelessness" when they routinely prevent reasonable small-scale apartments from being constructed near single-family homes is ridiculous.

www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

'An egregious joke:' Metro Vancouver's record on trial as developers balk at 200% fee hike Metro Vancouver is coming under growing scrutiny, as developers — and some politicians — oppose fee hikes on new home construction.

The philosophy "growth pays for growth" completely ignores the facts that
1. EVERYONE benefits from improved infrastructure;
2. Improved infrastructure and amenities could improve property values for existing homes;
3. We have a desperate shortage of housing supply.

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‘Can’t afford life anymore’: Report highlights Ontario’s increase in homelessness A reported increase in homelessness across Ontario is consistent with what’s being seen at the Downtown Mission of Windsor.

Another reminder that we are allowing people to be evicted into homelessness on a scale that has never been documented before. Getting someone out of homelessness is much harder and more expensive than stopping them from becoming homeless in the first place.

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#onpoli #canpoli

What is being glossed over by this gov is that of all the homes Ontario needs, over 500k must cost less than $1,800 per month, almost $500pm less than the current average asking price. If ON isn't going to build affordable #housing, how do they propose those homes will appear, and on what timeline?

Ford government pausing its own affordable housing policy, calling it ‘red tape’ | Globalnews.ca The Ford government is delaying its own affordable housing measures in several major Ontario cities, calling the rules it wrote 'unnecessary red tape and requirements.'

While inclusionary zoning is not perfect policy, calling affordable housing "unnecessary red tape" seems a bit out of line. Ontario needs to build close to a million homes to get out of a deficit, and every project that pencils out matters, (cont'd)

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Despite the abysmal data landscape around evictions, researchers are finding more and more disturbing trends about evictions, which prompts the question, why isn't the government collecting more data about landlords, #evictions, and the state of rental #housing?

Financialized landlords disproportionately apply to evict in Black neighbourhoods, study finds Findings show the eviction applications rates were five times higher in high-income, majority Black neighbourhoods than financialized landlords’ citywide average.

'He emphasized “there’s nothing illegal” about these practices, but “the rules and the systems we built produce those racialized outcomes that we are documenting through the study.'

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Higher Home Prices or Lower Homebuilding Costs: The Choice Governments Can’t Avoid How policy choices determine whether "q" rises through prices or costs

The cost of new #housing is, in large part, a policy decision. The outlined potential changes, even if only enacted temporarily, could reduce the cost of a new build by nearly a quarter million dollars.

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@missingmiddleca.bsky.social @mikepmoffatt.bsky.social

There's a growing backlash against the outsized, 'boxy' apartment blocks being built in B.C. Says one mayor: "They’re untenable. They don’t fit in with neighbourhoods. I know there are lot of upset people out there, and rightly so."

There is an existing gap of over 166,000 affordable homes in Metro Vancouver. BC Stats projects an extra 184,000 households in the region in the next 10 years.

And yet we will limit housing options because homes for these people are "boxy".

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The Housing Crisis Is Solvable British Columbia’s housing crisis is severe, but its root causes are familiar: exclusionary zoning, under-building, and chronic neglect of nonmarket housing. Economist Alex Hemingway’s proposals show…

As of right zoning, protect tenants, curb land value speculation. A simple formula that could dramatically impact the housing landscape in Canada.

🛠️ Create incentives to stimulate construction and disincentives to limit land speculation to overcome high cost and global supply chain challenges.
For more details and the full suite of solutions, read our (beautiful) report:
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❓ Decrease risk for developers to curb an increasingly volatile development market and encourage housing development.
⏱️ Prioritize streamlining of the municipal approvals process for housing development across departments.
💲 Increase capacity and support for the non-market sector.
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Expanding the supply of Housing on Public Land: Solutions Report The “Workshops to Expand Housing Supply on Public Land in Canada” project is one of the largest qualitative research projects of senior housing stakeholders in the country.

Happy New Year! What's on your #housing wishlist for 2026? Ours are the recommendations from our workshop report, in which developers, non-profits, and communities came up with solutions to build more housing on public land: 1/3

Opinion: How policy inaction could undo Metro Vancouver’s housing approvals boom Presales are frozen, costs are soaring and approved projects are stalling. Here’s how municipal inaction is quietly choking Metro Vancouver’s housing supply.

The idea that municipalities "can't do any more" than approve housing is preposterous, because munis are in control of the elements that make a project feasible. If you add $$$ DCCs, there's no wonder developers aren't building - they can't afford to.
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#vanpoli #bcpoli

New piece! For the second time in three years, Metro Vancouver has raised development charges just after another level of government lowered taxes on new housing, capturing the savings instead of lowering total costs.

Read Metro Van Strikes Again here: www.missingmiddleini...

UBC team creating first provincewide inventory of public land Interactive map for policymakers, developers and public to launch next summer

The @ubchart.bsky.social team is developing a new digital map to quantify how much public land exists in cities and towns across B.C. and assess their suitability for affordable housing.

What does this mean for housing policy? It points to the need for:
1. Greater tenure security and more non-profit housing options
2. Repair and retrofit programs
3. Accessible and adaptable housing.
Read the full report: buff.ly/k5aJr65

HART researchers worked on a report on seniors in Canada.
Key findings:
💲 Seniors living in unsubsidized rental housing are in greatest housing need
🛠️ Seniors in homes needing major repairs are most likely homeowners w/o a mortgage
📉 Seniors in need also struggle with multiple activities daily

UBC team creating first provincewide inventory of public land Interactive map for policymakers, developers and public to launch next summer

“But our argument is that affordable housing is so important... that it’s worth that opportunity cost.”
Thanks to @jamimakan.bsky.social for the coverage of our BC Public Lands Map on @viawesome.bsky.social. Learn more about our upcoming project at buff.ly/qPOqXy5