Mr. de Lange Boom is seeking an NPA nomination for city council.
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Most candidates in this race will agree that Vancouver has a housing problem. What’s rare is the courage needed to enact the bold and immediate action that must be taken at city hall.
I’m a 28 year old renter, engineer, and housing advocate. I’m seeking a Council nomination because Vancouver’s diminishing affordability also means diminishing opportunity – for young people to build their lives and flourish here, for parents to raise kids here, for disadvantaged people simply to exist.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Vancouver’s housing shortage is not an accident, it’s a deliberate policy choice. Generations of civic politicians have decided to side with a vocal minority who think they have a right to veto homes for other people, forcing residents of townhomes, apartments, and social housing to compete for a tiny sliver of our residential land – 20% of it – while 80% is legally required to be reserved for single family homes. Many candidates understand the above fact, but for political reasons are too afraid to challenge the status quo. Whether your focus is on townhomes, co-ops, apartments, condominiums, social housing (or as I believe, all of the above!), the housing shortage cannot be solved without first expanding the base of land that additional homes can actually be built on. Getting land use right is the key to a comprehensive housing policy that will end costly delays by the city’s bureaucracy, and leverage city land for to build below market housing. This is why I’m running with the NPA: as seen with his motion to allow 6 storey rental, subsidized, or seniors housing buildings in Point Grey, Hector Bremner is the only prospective mayoral candidate proposing meaningful, common-sense reforms to regressive land use policies.
As an engineer and former military officer, problem solving, leadership and getting results by delivering practical solutions has been at the core of my professional life. If you think that city hall needs a city council that combines problem solving skills, leadership ability, and the willingness to address the housing shortage in a meaningful way, please consider joining the NPA to support my candidacy, and that of like-minded candidates.
This election isn’t about old ideological divisions. It’s about electing a council that’s serious about ensuring Vancouver remains a place of opportunity.
So increased density is being put forward as your only solution to the housing crisis? There will have to be many pieces to solve this complex puzzle, please tell us more.
The NDP seem to have put a large amount of the big picture taxation measures in place. Short of enacting and rigourously enforcing a Foreign Buyers Ban, what more could be done? I suppose the Feds could collect capital gains on rezoned houses.
Yes why are primary residences exempt from capital gains but if I rent and save I have to pay capital gains.