Yesterday evening I managed to make it to the community roundtable on the legalization of secondary suites. I was pleasantly surprised at the number of people who actually supported the legalization of secondary suites in the crowd. There were at least a few at every table save one. I have no idea as to the [...]
Posts under ‘Housing’
Central Saanich council decides to be nice
A few weeks ago, before the last election, the Central Saanich council decided it would be a great idea if they cut off the water to homes with illegal suites. Earlier this week council decided to hold off on that idea for now. Maybe this is an early Christmas gifts for all those poor tenants? [...]
TC’s special on Rebuilding Canada
The Times Colonist (and presumably the whole Canwest newspaper chain) has a special entitled “Rebuilding Canada”. That they are running such a piece now isn’t really a surprise, given the massive number of stories talking about an “infrastructure stimulus“. What really gets me is the focus on rebuilding and adding new roads. One of the [...]
Innovative laneways from Vancouver
Like Oak Bay, the City of Vancouver is blessed with a great deal of laneways. Vancouver has already made the great leap to allow laneway housing, as I talked about early this month, but now they are looking at the laneway itself, specifically how to make it more environmentally friendly. Called the “Country Lane” Treatment [...]
Solving the housing crisis by cutting off water to illegal suites
The Central Saanich Council has come across a unique solution to solving the housing crisis: cutting off water to “persistent offenders.” Quite frankly, I’m horrified. Access to fresh water is a fundamental human right, not something to be used by a government in a dispute with a land owner. In the Times Colonist article, Denis [...]
Premier freezes property taxes
As you have probably read already in the Times Colonist or on CBC.ca, the Premier froze property taxes at 2007 levels until 2009 and has allowed anybody, not just seniors, to defer property taxes for up to two years. While the short and long terms effects may be minor, it does shine on a light [...]
Laneway housing in Oak Bay?
Sometimes an obvious solution to part of the housing crisis hits us in the face. Such is the case today, with the Vancouver City Council unanimously approving laneway housing. You can read more about it at cbc.ca and straight.com. But what is laneway housing? Essentially, it is housing built in people’s backyards, facing the rear [...]
