Living

Canadian governments have to stop pouring money into the dream of the white picket fence and purchaser incentives. Demand is not the problem. Collectively, the focus has to be on increasing housing supply. Solve the supply problem – solve the affordability problem. Some Statistics So What to do? Based on current housing production, home shortages […]

Canada’s de facto ruling coalition is delivering a political Christmas gift of $342.65. The math: Isn’t Inflation the Problem? And this to help Canadians deal with the cost of living. So the world has struggled with inflation for the last few years and finally seemed to be getting it under control, at least in Canada. […]

I have been trying to figure out how a 5% sales tax rebate makes homes more affordable. I haven’t been able to because it just doesn’t work. Homes sell at a market price. If that market price is $1.0 million dollars, the only party to benefit from the $50,000 rebate will be the seller because […]

North America has a single-family house fixation – an abusive use of land needed for agriculture and nature. The resulting urban sprawl requires extended road, sewer, water, and utilities infrastructure. The outcome –  more land cost and infrastructure cost per housing unit equals less upfront affordability. And, extended infrastructure networks saddle communities with additional municipal […]

Before I fall completely into the trap of opposition politics, I have decided to take a break from never-ending criticism and to start suggesting solutions to the affordable housing conundrum. Do I have a plan? No! More a collection of ideas. To start with, I think there are three key issues: Home ownership is not […]

Vienna on top again. This week both Monocle Magazine and The Economist unveiled their quality of life / most liveable city indexes. There are differences in the way each publication sets its index. So it is even more impressive that once again, Vienna tops both lists. I am a bit lazy today so rather than […]

Many Viennese went from hot bedding to superblocks overnight. Could they even imagine  an apartment complex 1000 metres long built along two streets with even more massive landscaped courtyards? Could they conceive of 1400 apartment units built to house 5000 people on 56,000 square metres or 38 acres of land.  Or a vertical build-out that […]

Vienna had been a poor city even before the First World War. “Normal” housing arrangements  meant six to eight people sharing one room and a kitchen. Then, in early 1919, just after the Armistice,  the cost of living tripled in two months. Bed lodgers could no longer afford their 8-hours a day in a shared […]

I am not keeping up with my commitment to write more often. I am busy. In addition to my usual advisory work, I am investing a lot of time into three inter-connected initiatives for improving urban life. Interconnected because they are all about improving urban life and providing homes for everyone and everything. How did […]

Creative development in Los Angeles.