Ryan Jabs

29 Apr

Welcome to Kindred! A six home houseplex in the heart of walkable, bikeable, transitable VicWest in #yyj. These homes took 30 months for rezoning and permitting and 18 months to build. Now this building is home to 15 adults and children of all ages. www.lapishomes.com/projects/633...

I do wonder how much support the BC NDP might have lost because they pivoted on housing over the last two years and went back to the old anti-developer rhetoric. Their campaign promise shifted late in the election, but they still focused too much on rhetoric of success while the crisis continues.

Alex Bozikovic@alexbozikovic.bsky.social

“A couple of years ago, this was an emergency… Now that the pressure on wealthier people has softened, it is no longer a wartime effort. Now it’s just inconvenience.” My piece on how we forgot about housing policy:

@alexbozikovic.bsky.social

Equally, I think the BC conservatives need to embrace an agressive pro housing push despite some internal opposition. Young people are bearing the brunt of this stuff and I don’t think they’ll forget in 10 to 15 years if the Conservatives abandon the ongoing (and in many ways magnifying) problem.

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Alex Bozikovic

Almost everyone in Canada lives in "market housing" and it's always been that way, for better and for worse. Non-market housing was 6% at the high point in the 20c and it's now around 4%. Farha's history simply does not add up. www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...

theglobeandmail.comOpinion: Let’s call Canada’s housing crisis what it is: a purposeful, profit-driven industry where people get left behindHousing Inc. treats a home as someone else’s investment, but it’s not too late to change that thinking

David Eby really called the election for this past weekend b/c he knew he was about to screw up all of our calendar reminders w/ this time change stuff. "I'm getting out of here before this calendar crap hits!!!" PS All your future/repeating calendar meetings are broke.

PPS THIS IS WORSE THAN Y2K!!!!!!

Local govs that are serious about climate friendly density in core communities must scale back the considerable layers of fees, requirements, policies & delays that push housing to suburbs. Vic & saanich have the longest permitting times & the highest policy related construction costs in the CRD.

Jeremy Caradonna@jeremycaradonnayyj.bsky.social

My first thought this morning? Victoria and Vancouver will need to work together to counter the cuts and setbacks that are coming. Harm reduction, non-market housing finance, housing density, etc, are all on the chopping block. @seanorr.bsky.social @lucymaloney.bsky.social Let’s hold the line.

8. Get out of the way. Housing is one of the most overregulated industries in Canada, regulated by three layers of government and at least six professional bodies. Municipalities should take a step back, especially for smaller part 9 building code projects that have professional oversight.

There are a number of other improvements that can be made (pre approved buildable designs, affordability incentives/funding, remove restoration/new sidewalk requirements…) but I believe the above is practical and can mostly be done within the next year.

Jeremy Caradonna@jeremycaradonnayyj.bsky.social

6. Remove parking requirements and don’t tax housing that’s built without parking through TDMs. Victoria has significant parking requirements on new housing and now has some of the highest TDM taxes on builders that don’t build that parking.

7. Require staff to cost out new policies and analyze how they conflict with other policies. I had an engineer recently tell me that he has no idea how the parks bylaw overlaps with their massive new bylaws. This should never be the case, as staff should fully understand how policies conflicts.

Jeremy Caradonna@jeremycaradonnayyj.bsky.social

4. Continue to upzone properties without adding more fees and permitting requirements. If we want family housing, upzone neighbourhoods for it. Victoria has done some of this but the restrictions and requirements layered on top has meant limited middle housing homes built.

5. Instead of taxing new housing with higher and higher development and amenity fees, incentivize the type of housing we want through tax breaks and density boosts. (Want family sized townhouses, give builders a dcc break to build this housing; want affordability? Remove the taxes on that housing).

Jeremy Caradonna@jeremycaradonnayyj.bsky.social

That’s just a few but there are literally hundreds (thousands) of pages of these requirements that have been layered on housing leading to months of delays in processing, fewer trees being planted and less homes being built in the core. This is neither green nor pro-housing.

3. Support controversial projects—even if they’re not perfect or don’t 100% align with council or city’s vision. I get it. Some buildings are ugly and might be poorly designed. In a competitive market, tenants and buyers avoid those, leading to affordability & incentivizing better design choices.

Jeremy Caradonna@jeremycaradonnayyj.bsky.social

As another example, Victoria has just adopted daily, weekly and monthly design and sediment testing requirements for small housing projects that will add $25k to these projects for very minimal benefits. (Think about the amount of leaves going into storm right now which is actually a problem).

Victoria also requires demolished homes, that are 90% recycled through traditional demolition, to be hand deconstructed. This adds months to demolition and construction timelines (++ interest costs) and tens of thousands to costs. Sounds great but it’s incrementally anti-housing.

Jeremy Caradonna@jeremycaradonnayyj.bsky.social

Staff regularly delay projects if a department doesn’t like it (we’re past the three year mark for a DP right now). This will remove that tendency and when projects are moved to council it creates transparency for council about staff opposition to housing and where approval problems might be.

2. Remove hundreds of pages of expensive bylaw requirements. For example, if I want to plant a large tree,which will grow in a truck full of soil, I need to remove four trucks of fill & bring in four trucks of tested soil. That tree will never recapture the carbon & the cost burden is excessive.

Jeremy Caradonna@jeremycaradonnayyj.bsky.social

This isn’t targeted at Jeremy as I know he’s serious about addressing the challenges, but making it easier and less expensive to build in core communities is the only path for progressive local governments to limit climate killing sprawl and the loss of families in our neighbourhoods.

Abundant Housing Vancouver

Here’s a few ideas on how: 1. Introduce permitting timelines that require staff to approve any application within 30-90 days or forward declined apps to council in that time frame. This must include applications that staff feel are incomplete, as often the application requirements are the problem.

Ryan Jabs reposted

Aaron Rupar

@atrupar.com

Obama: "That well-known evil empire Canada. That historical adversary of ours. Canada! *laughs* It's your neighbor. It's a few minutes' drive over the bridge! These are the people who gave us Martin Short and maple syrup. They are the nicest people! And someone we've gotten them so mad."

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@ahvancouver.bsky.social

The BC Conservatives are promising to repeal the NDP's multiplex mandate (and possibly the "transit-oriented areas" too) & replace them with "locally developed Official Community Plans that carry appropriate density targets." Let's dig into what this could mean... 1/10

I had a bit of time today, so I've thrown together a bit of analysis on each party's platform from my perspective - a middle housing developer & builder trying to build family-oriented middle income homes. There are many ideas here that are worth discussing. This isn't AI and forgive the typos.

Abundant Housing Vancouver@ahvancouver.bsky.social

Election day is around the corner. Here are links to the housing platforms of major parties: CentreBC: www.centrebc.ca/wp-c... BC Conservatives: conservativebc.ca/wp... BC NDP: www.bcndp.ca/release... BC Greens: bcgreens.ca/wp-conte...

If you've followed along, and you'd like a pdf, feel free to email me. If you're involved in one of the parties and want to see more family-oriented, middle housing built, I'm happy to talk about that too. Contact is on my website.

Also these were quick thoughts, not proof read slapped out on the eve of an election. Forgive me for anything that might annoy you with this or anything that might not make a lot of sense. Good democracy is healthy disagreement. If we don't like that, we don't like democracy.

Abundant Housing Vancouver@ahvancouver.bsky.social

Here we go with the BC Greens. It focusses a lot on renter protections, and they're the only party that mentions indigenous housing. Unfortunately, it lacks ideas for middle housing and ideas for family housing or for getting people into home ownership, which I personally think is important.

And here's Centre BC. I like this platform, as it seems for a non-governing party, quite thought out -- focussing on affordable and market, rental and ownership. Hopefully, the winning party borrows from these folks.

Abundant Housing Vancouver@ahvancouver.bsky.social

Let's start with the current governing party. They've had the most time with this and have seen real progress. These ideas can continue to address the housing crisis, if they shift back to leading on the topic, rather than rhetoric.

youtube.comNorm Macdonald Can't Drive | Norm MacdonaldYouTube video by Norm Macdonald Has a Show

And here we go with the B.C. Conservatives. I think there are some good ideas here, but I have some concerns that their focus is on urban sprawl rather than economically and environmentally important in-fill.

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GRIDS Vancouver

@grids.reillywood.com

municipal politicians be like

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Taras Grescoe 🚇

@taras-grescoe.com

"I don't know how to drive a car. Never learned" "Why?" "Well, I don't like them. They're dangerous." Norm Macdonald, (hilarious) foot soldier in the War on Cars @thewaroncars.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOdM...

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California YIMBY

@cayimby.bsky.social

A new paper on 60 cities finds that 30% to 43% of the gap in completion times between the slowest and fastest cities comes from permit waits, not construction. Longer projects also mean more interest paid, which raises costs. www.theargumentmag.com/p/how-to-kil...

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Melissa & Chris Bruntlett

@modacitylife.com

A lot changes as we age, most notably our ability to move throughout our communities. As we look for ways to support seniors' ongoing participation in daily life, how can we help more people age actively, safely, and with dignity? Read the full post: modacitycreative.com/2026/10/20/c...

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Oh The Urbanity!

@ohtheurbanity.bsky.social

Some who follow me for cycling/transit are surprised that I’m very YIMBY: supportive of density and housing development. It’s precisely because there are relatively few places where you can easily live car-free in this country that I think everyone who wants to live there should be able to.

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Oh The Urbanity!

@ohtheurbanity.bsky.social

Winter cyclists in Quebec City have increased from 6,000 to 19,000 in just five years, as the city builds more bike infrastructure and takes winter clearing more seriously. Winter cycling doesn’t have to be as common as summer cycling to reach a point where it’s relatively common and visible.

Le Devoir@ledevoir.com

Le vélo gagne de plus en plus d’adeptes à Québec, même en hiver.

ledevoir.comQuébec, «ville de l’auto», se promène de plus en plus sur deux roues

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Jonathan Berk 🏠

@berkie1.bsky.social

“71% of carless households in the United States pay for a parking space they don’t use, and that required parking spaces can raise construction costs for small apartments by 38%.” 📓 UCLA Center For Parking Policy report

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Stephen Jacob Smith

@stephenjacobsmith.com

One day people are tweeting about how YIMBYism has no answers for the Rust Belt and single-stair kills. The next, a firefighter moonlighting in construction and a nurse (total household income: $175k-$200k?) can’t afford to buy in a good Kansas City school district. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

bloomberg.comAmerica’s Housing Affordability Crisis Spreads to the MidwestIn the region that’s often thought of as a refuge from the US housing squeeze, prices are rising and would-be buyers are feeling boxed out.

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Tom Flood

@tomflood.bsky.social

Me to my teen all day: hey what’s new, how’s school, friends, parties? Teen: *crickets* Teen right when I’m trying to sleep:

Alberta has always been the relief valve for Canada’s housing crisis, and attracting young people who can afford housing has been one of their economic strengths. This is so very much anti-young families.

Yonah Freemark@yonahfreemark.com

Conservative government of Alberta is preempting Edmonton, requiring the city to: —Reverse the city's 2024 change allowing small-scale apartment buildings to be built citywide. Change resulted in a building boom: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... —Restore parking requirements, which city eliminated in 2020

rosemary.substack.comThe doctors prescribing housing‘Unhoused patients live nearly 20 years less, and their health care costs are seven times higher.’

Probably worth reminding folks that the B.C. NDP government just gutted the province’s affordable home building program… Maybe instead of new taxes, we follow the evidence and reduce costs by housing folks?

André Picard @picardonhealth @picardonhealth.bsky.social

The doctors prescribing housing. Unhoused patients live nearly 20 years less, and their health care costs are seven times higher, so housing is a good investment, by Rosemary Cairns rosemary.substack.com/p/the-doctor... via @uhn.ca

Ryan Jabs reposted

André Picard @picardonhealth

@picardonhealth.bsky.social

rosemary.substack.comThe doctors prescribing housing‘Unhoused patients live nearly 20 years less, and their health care costs are seven times higher.’

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Sarah Starkweather for Oak Bay

@starkweatherforob.bsky.social

Responses to to Oak Bay For All candidate questionnaire have been published. You can read what I had to say here!

oakbayforall.caCandidate questionnaires are in! — Oak Bay for AllWe asked Mayor & Council candidates 8 questions about priorities from months of community listening, as ranked in our September survey. Candidates who responded are: Sam Holland , Kevin Murdoch ...

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Sam

@samd.bsky.social

Left-NIMBY vacancy trutherism is so funny because their argument implicitly accepts the logic that greater supply of housing lowers prices but then completely refuses to take it to its logical endpoint that we should build more housing.

This post is unavailable.

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Justin McElroy 🇨🇦

@jmcelroy.bsky.social

Elections have a way of clarifying who matters to political parties (car owners) and whose priorities can wait for another day (transit advocates). My dispatch from Day 1 on David Eby’s four day mid-election road trip. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

cbc.caANALYSIS | Eby puts needs of car owners ahead of transit advocates in ruling out Metro Vancouver vehicle levy | CBC NewsFor the last 18 months, a vehicle levy has been talked about by TransLink as a potential way to create a more sustainable funding model, as revenue from fuel taxes continues to decline. But all that w...

“We need more policies to guide housing.” Staff tied up creating new policy. “We need more staff to enforce policies.” Staff hired. “We need more policies to guide housing.” Staff tied up creating policy. “We need more staff to enforce policies.” Staff hired. Over and over and over.

Paul Kulig@paulkuligto.bsky.social

Also aware that the layer cake of policies created to side-step this reality has served to keep planners busy. Where would we be without Urban Growth Centres, Major Transit Station Areas, Avenues, Major Streets and Expanding Housing Options in Neighbourhoods chipping away at „stable neighbourhoods”?

“What you have to understand is that bureaucracy is an organism, and the prime goal of every organism is self-protection. Bureaucracy exists to protect itself.” A potent and often true line in Emily St. Mandel’s Sea of Tranquility.

bankofcanada.caWhy asking rents have surged in Canada since 2021Renting has become significantly more expensive in Canada in recent years. Asking rents—those advertised for vacant units—rose sharply as demand grew faster than supply. As tenants move and sign new l...

Many people don’t believe this and so advocate only for gov’ subsidized housing (well away from where they live): “If the number of renter households increases faster than the supply of rental units, asking rents tend to rise.” BoC on rising rents. www.bankofcanada.ca/2026/09/spar...