 | Friday, September 24, 2021
Reading this online? Sign up to get this delivered to your inbox every Friday. | | How the federal government could influence local housing policy after the election | | |  | | | What does Monday’s federal election result have to do with city politics?
More than you might think.
Yes, the re-election of a Liberal minority government retains the status quo in Ottawa. Whether you like that or not depends a lot on your policy preferences.
But city halls are at the bottom of the government food chain for a number of processes, and regardless of their politics, mayors tend to favour funding and stability. And a third Liberal term, for as long as it lasts, locks in a number of projects and processes that have been underway for many years.
That includes, for example, the promised money for the SkyTrain extension to Langley City. It includes continuing to study exempting Vancouver from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, which would effectively decriminalize drugs within city borders.
And it includes billions and billions of dollars for housing projects in cities big and small, happening in alignment with a provincial government that shares similar attitudes on the affordable housing crisis.
In the last few years, that has been a pretty conflict-free relationship: cities say they would like more affordable housing, and eventually the higher levels of government provide the funding, albeit mostly in formulas where only some of the units in any building are fully subsidized.
But there’s a new wrinkle in what the Liberals promised in their housing platform this time around: a $4 billion Housing Accelerator Fund, which “will offer support to municipalities that grow housing supply faster than their historic average, reduce approval times, help establish inclusionary zoning bylaws, and encourage transit-oriented development.”
To the untrained eye it may sound innocent, but debates over these concepts have dominated many council tables in recent years. In Metro Vancouver, a number of mayors were elected in 2018 on their explicit opposition to dramatic rezonings that would permit higher density.
The Liberal platform explicitly says the fund will “tackle NIMBYism,” but the truth is that NIMBYism is quite popular in many suburban areas of Metro Vancouver. And unlike amalgamated Toronto or Montreal or Calgary or Edmonton, these areas have separate governments with separate zoning policies.
Put another way, the federal government will begin waiving a very big carrot at municipalities to change their housing policies.
We’ll see how many mayors and councillors change their attitudes in response — particularly in an election year. | | |  | | | 1. Housing | But even if councils agree to build faster and taller, will it actually reduce the price of property in the region? And how much more supply would be necessary? And how many years would it take for the new supply to be built? These aren’t questions with easy answers, but if housing policy was easy, we wouldn’t be talking about it so much.
Read more | | | | |  | | | 3. Vancouver | It was a packed first council week since the summer break, with motions on the Tilbury Island LNG plant, establishing a “Friendship City” program and pursuing a court order to clean up a private SRO. But the thing that got most attention was a vote to make the pandemic patio rules permanent — though there are concerns around accessibility. Read more | | | | | |  | | | 4. Pandemic meetings | It was also the first Vancouver council meeting with some councillors at city hall for the first time in 18 months, but the city will continue to allow people to phone in for public hearings, even with questions about how advisory committees operate. But other places are going right back to pre-pandemic rules, including Pitt Meadows.
Read more | | | |  | | | 5. Homelessness | A “safe streets” bylaw passed in Prince George a month ago is being criticized by a University of Toronto expert on street policing, who says it is “particularly discriminatory.” While we doubt that will change council’s mind on the issue, one imagines other municipalities will be looking at the effect of the new policies and considering their own options.
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