On this edition of Journal, we try to make sense of the mish-mash of housing initiatives coming at us from all directions – federal, provincial, and municipal governments.

Two things seem obvious. First, no one is coordinating these various programs, since some of them overlap and some even contradict each other. At one point last spring, research showed there were at least 60 initiatives aimed at developers and builders, supposedly to increase the supply of housing, therefore leading to affordability. But have they?

Second, the whole issue of housing is fractured into parts. There is home ownership, market rental, below market rental, social housing, seniors housing, assisted living, and on and on. Each category gets debated on its own with little attention to how it fits with all the other needs. Policies are then developed sector by sector.

Beau Jarvis sees this as a problem. Beau is the President and CEO of Wesgroup Properties, one of Canada’s largest housing providers. For many years, his company has been a major player in purpose-built rental housing. Many people in government and in the community feel that this is the only answer to affordability, but is it?

Have we completely given up on the idea of ownership – in any form – because it seems so expensive and so impossible?

But at the moment, rental is the flavour of the month, garnering much of the attention and policies to support it. Despite Wesgroup’s strong presence in that market, Beau feels it is a mistake if we aren’t talking about housing as a whole with all its permutations and combinations since piecemeal policy does not guarantee a liveable, affordable city.

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On this edition of Journal, we examine what is happening to the City of Vancouver – and what can be done, if anything, to turn this situation around.

When I was a councillor in the late eighties, I remember one example of how neighbourhood planning was done in those days: on the street, not in backrooms.

A brand new False Creek residential development, to be built on industrial land, while controversial, was to be a centrepiece of new urban planning principles. Immediately, questions arose. How can you have density without amenities like parks? Or the idea that you can’t start building without thoughtful plans for infrastructure and traffic management. Most importantly, you have to talk to residents (or future residents) about their needs.

Larry Beasley, an urban planner for the city, was not content to just send paper reports to Council – he took a group of us councillors down to False Creek so we could actually see the design initiatives that were important to liveability, rather than just plunking down apartments.

As a sidebar, part of the lesson was about quality, dramatically emphasized when he was mid-sentence explaining why a certain kind of rock – rip-rap – had to be used along the shoreline to prevent rats from infesting the residential area. Just at that moment, a rat appeared and scampered up to us. Alright, alright. Pay for the right rip-rap!

But the point actually is, Larry Beasley was always hands-on: walking the streets, talking to residents, asking questions, listening and responding, ensuring we built a city for its citizens. It is a big reason why Vancouver has so many unique neighbourhoods. And for many years, those streets became mini communities – safe to walk, shop, and talk to your neighbours.

Larry is not happy with what he is seeing today: that the province has decided it can design our cities from Victoria.

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On this edition of Journal: What has happened to the centre-right coalition that ran British Columbia for so many years, under various names (SoCreds, BC Liberals, etc.)?

The latest iteration was cobbled together just before the last provincial election when John Rustad, who had been kicked off the BC Liberals before they became BC United, joined up with the dormant Conservative party – and then Kevin Falcon, the BC United leader, pulled his party out of the race.

And we’re seeing the same kind of division on the right at the municipal level in Vancouver.

Ahh, BC politics.

And unbelievably, this party with virtually no money, no organization, and a lot of newbie candidates almost won the election. Such was the unhappiness with the NDP government and Premier Eby.

Now, one might have thought that such a surprisingly good result would have given this new group hope and enthusiasm for the future. But no. Instead of all pulling together in the same direction with one eye on the future, the backstabbing and innuendo began.

Whispers and more whispers: John Rustad, the man who brought them so close to victory would be gone by Monday, or next week, or next month.

One year later, five MLAs have left or been kicked out of caucus and a majority of the Conservative Party executive have called for Rustad’s resignation, as have the presidents of five Metro Vancouver ridings. And yet, John Rustad is becoming more and more prominent on social media, talking about issues such as Cowichan, affordability and EV mandates.

To help us understand the machinations of politics in this province is my guest this week, Dr. Stewart Prest, a lecturer in political science at the University of BC.

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