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1. Toronto takes small step forward with laneway houses

   Toronto City Council recently approved an important amendment to its planning rules, allowing homeowners to add laneway units to their properties without changing zoning bylaws. Such units—standalone rental homes facing lanes or alleys ...

2. In Florida, they’re snowbirds—in B.C., they’re ‘speculators’

   Heavy-handed policies such as B.C.’s “speculation” tax target symptoms rather than causes. ...

3. If the B.C. government wants to help renters, it should care about homebuilding

   British Columbia Premier John Horgan recently appointed a Rental Housing Task Force to advise the government on how to “improve security and fairness for renters and landlords throughout the province.” It’s encouraging that the ...

4. Empty Homes Tax—Vancouver City Hall barking up the wrong tree

   The City of Vancouver recently announced how many Vancouver homes are considered “unoccupied” and subject to the new Empty Homes Tax. As it turns out, very few homes qualify—meaning city hall should consider other ways to address ...

5. B.C. budget—housing plan anything but ‘comprehensive’

   The B.C. government’s 2018 budget was widely expected to include measures aimed at housing affordability in the province’s most expensive real estate markets. Unfortunately, the measures announced continue to target the symptoms rather ...

6. Three hurdles Ontario homebuilders must overcome to build new homes in a timely manner

   The Ontario government has acted on a key tenet of its housing plan —holding a roundtable with municipalities and the homebuilding sector to streamline housing development approvals. This is good news for Ontarians, whose housing options ...

7. Queen’s Park and Toronto City Hall put the squeeze on renters

   Appeared in the Toronto Sun, November 10, 2017 Statistics Canada recently released data from last year’s census on housing across the country, revealing, among other things, a spike in the number of renters in Toronto. Let’s start with the numbers. ...

8. Advice for Toronto’s next chief planner—give Torontonians housing options

   The City of Toronto recently announced that its chief planner, Jennifer Keesmaat, will step down from her role after five years at city hall. The ensuing transition presents an excellent opportunity for Toronto to tackle one of its most ...

9. By targeting foreign buyers, Queen’s Park misses the point

   Appeared in the Toronto Sun, July 30, 2017 According to a recent announcement from Queen’s Park, 4.7 per cent of properties purchased in Ontario’s Greater Golden Horseshoe (between April 24 and May 26) were acquired by foreign individuals or corporations. ...

10. How an NDP-Green government can free up B.C.’s housing supply

    Appeared in the Vancouver Sun, June 12, 2017 In the wake of last month’s election, the NDP and Green Party appear poised to form the next government in Victoria. And yet, in their 10-page agreement, (which has sweeping implications for the future of ...