A sharp observer alerted me yesterday to more signs of change in Chinatown: two key sites (the venerable Tosi’s at 624 Main and the Brickhouse/empty lot/student hostel/Jimi Hendrix shrine assembly at Main and Union) for sale and a new rental building with rents starting at $1,267 for studios. My story on that here, complete with […]

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What is with all the people getting hired from the States to work here? It’s a flood. (At least the San Franciscans can cash out with enough equity to buy a trailer in Abbotsford here.) This is the latest, a big hire for the engineering department, according to internal memo. To all staff in Engineering, […]

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Catching up on some stuff here, but all still relevant. I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the group of younger people that has coalesced into a kind of pro-density group called Abundant Housing, partly inspired by the YIMBY groups that are springing up in other cities — San Francisco being the first. They are […]

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This just out from the city. City appoints Gil Kelley as the General Manager of Planning, Urban Design and Sustainability Today, the City is announcing that Gil Kelley will serve as Vancouver’s new Chief Planner and General Manager of the newly created Department of Planning, Urban Design and Sustainability. Gil has been appointed by City […]

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Is this tax, which I’m told the province decided to implement after looking at some pretty disastrous polling stories three weeks ago, really our version of Brexit? Could it be our (tamer) version of the British vote where people rebelled against the prevailing tide of globalization favoured by governments and the corporate world? (I’m not […]

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So I ambled down to the official announcement of the bike-share launch, held on the picture-perfect seawall with kayakers going by, the glass towers sparkling in the sunshine, and an elderly gentleman playing the street piano nearby. My official Globe story is here, but those of you who know anything about me realize that I’m […]

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Just when you think things can’t get any more virulent in Vancouver’s debates over real estate, they do. As far as I can tell, the heat went up starting with the province’s decision two weeks ago to release three weeks worth of data on sales, which showed that about five per cent of Vancouver real […]

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ICYMI, here is my story about a recent court case, where Red Door Housing Society removed the subsidy from a tenant who didn’t report income her daughter had been getting. Now they are being asked to pay $1,990 for their three-bedroom townhouse on the False Creek waterfront, instead of $650. It’s a small glimpse behind […]

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That’s what I’m wondering, as the bizarre Vancouver and Toronto real-estate frenzies mean that more people are staying in the rental market for longer — maybe forever. The Globe is doing a series on renter issues. I kicked it off on Saturday with a look at the general picture across the land and a little […]

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The province said it would start collecting data on foreign ownership in June and, this week, Finance MInister Mike de Jong revealed the results from, I’m guessing, the first 19 days of collection. The total of the goverment information is here, which doesn’t answer all the questions I would have had (couldn’t be there because […]

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