OneCity is holding a contested mayoral nomination, and their two candidates, William Azaroff and Amanda Burrows, were on the Cambie Report. Link to the full episode below. Here's what they had to say about housing (see follow up posts for alt text):

The Toys R Us sign that is on another, now-defunct , sign, is a part of Vancouver's heritage. We must add a third layer of signs. And, then, in our grandchildens' time, perhaps, a fourth.

But more of it is implied by post-1970 urban governance norms and policies that prioritized the physical stability of existing neighbourhoods and valourized opposition to infill development outside of limited redevelopment of surplus industrial land.

I appreciate @1alexhemingway.bsky.social’s consistent advocacy for non-market housing without downplaying market housing or the broader supply shortage. By covering not just zoning but also suppressed household formation, this is pretty much the gold standard for left-YIMBYism.

We need to build homes, everywhere, for all kinds of people. That's how you solve a housing crisis.

No such thing as an "Orphan Lot" any more. Single stair stacked flats can fit on small lots (like this 50x70 corner lot). This could be 12 small 1Br, or six family size flats. Just allow 50% lot coverage and 3FSR and away you go.

Most of Vancouver is de facto a gated community for rich people. It’s been said many times, but can’t be said often enough. Luckily, this is going to change!

Smallplexes are "faster, cheaper, a better use of construction workers’ time, and a big opportunity for small local builders... help more people find homes this decade, not the next." h/t @sightline.org @dannyoleksiuk.bsky.social www.sightline.org/2025/10/28/t...

A significant move Vancouver made this week was moving forward with enabling novel Single Egress & Space Efficient Stairs. Led by the great team in Development, Buildings & Licensing, supported closely by Vancouver Fire Rescue Service; and Planning this will be transformative for low-rise apartments

As a non-profit housing CEO, here's why the Social Housing Initiative mattered. It offered a real pathway to build homes for our neighbours in need, without half a million dollars in paperwork. Without 8-12 months of unnecessary delays for projects Council never rejects anyway.

Come say hi at @ahvancouver.bsky.social's Holiday Party! When: Monday, December 8, starting at 5 pm. Come by whenever, the bar is open till 10! Where: the Alibi Room Note that this is happening on Monday instead of our regular monthly happy hour on Thursday. :) www.eventbrite.com/e/abundant-h...

Why did they keep making surfing movies after James Cameron already made the perfect one: Point Break

Have any of you experienced something like this (or worse) due to dangerous conditions caused by a driver turning right on red? Please send us photos or videos! Reply here, DM us, or send us an email: contact(at) visionzerovancouver .ca

Interesting new working paper that studies chains of movers after the construction of a new apartment building in Honolulu. Paper finds that the project resulted in the opening up other, lower cost, housing on the island, benefiting the housing market overall.

The full time job of the modal person with the title of "city planner" in the US is to be a steward of segregation.

Tonight, Burnaby City Council is considering a motion to reduce the amount of housing you can build, and to increase the amount of parking you must build. I turned on the hearing to hear the owner of a $2M home describe her "horror" at a laneway home next door— a "monstrosity" she called it.

Playing with more Pacific Northwest #sharedstair street ideas

Fantastic article by @dannyoleksiuk.bsky.social in @Sightline.org What I am most struck by is that ALL of my favourite buildings in Vancouver's residential neighbourhoods are ~4-6 storey apartments! Beautiful - I wish we would embrace heritage zoning laws! www.sightline.org/2025/10/28/t...

I have lost so much pigment in what’s left of my hair arguing with planners to legalize these everywhere and someday I’m going to sip a glass of wine inside of one built as result of those efforts

I published an article today and Vladdy hit a home run off of Ohtani so overall just a very good day

@dannyoleksiuk.bsky.social writes for @sightline.org about the potential to bring back small lot apartment buildings. #singlestair code changes can unlock this option for the first time in a century. Let’s go! www.sightline.org/2025/10/28/t...

Great @sightline.org piece by @dannyoleksiuk.bsky.social www.sightline.org/2025/10/28/t... #newwest

To people looking for a home today, writes @dannyoleksiuk.bsky.social, it matters a great deal whether that home is built next year, or in ten. Re-legalizing small apartment buildings throughout our cities would create more homes faster. www.sightline.org/2025/10/28/t...

i have about two million followers across three platforms. statistically, about 20,000 of you are in the top 1% in terms of wealth. if any of you feel like leaving me your home in a walkable neighborhood when you die, that would make for a very heartwarming social media story.

Here's a consolidated thread with some of our more recent #SingleStair explorations. We've been doing these with the aim to influence vancouver zoning and building code deliberations, and because we want to understand what the potential is. First up: 33x122 lots, 4 and 5 storey, fronting a park

when you make the *existing city* illegal to build again today this is the obvious and inevitable consequence: www.latimes.com/california/s...

The day is off to a good start

Just hit a new deadlift personal best at 185kg, reaching my goal for the year with 2.5 months to spare.

people protesting an extra floor at the OV school because of congestion when I will quite literally buy a car to drive up to Ontario & 16th for his current catchment if he can’t get into the OV school

The New Vancouver Special - 50' lot edition. Accessible single stair flats on a 50x122 lot. 12 family size homes (or) 24 small units.

Alejandro Kirk is having a great day

Please join me in voting for Vancouver's worst intersection: Main and 7th. I lived above this intersection, breathing tire dust and dodging rams, for 5 years. There is an incredible assortment of small businesses and a thriving community here, but the intersection is awful.

Vancouver (Extra) Special 33' lots 4 and 6 storey single-stair buildings. 3Br accessible flats, adjacent to a park. (sketchup / ai render)

it is wild that Vancouver still reserves this land near UBC and Spanish Banks for *massive* mansions. I still think about how Vision voted down a motion to allow apartments and social+seniors housing here

this exists it is called thinking

Events around Metro Vancouver today: 🎶 Orpheum Tours ⚽️ @vancouverrisefc.bsky.social ⚓️ Shipyards Festival 🏁 Car Free Day North Van 🥌 Richmond Curling Open House 🔥 Fire Dragon Festival and “Vancouver’s Worst Zoning: The Walking Tour”…

thinking, after a pedestrian was killed at 12th and Victoria, about how Vancouver has a 311 app with a million categories and no way to complain about a dangerous intersection

YIMBYism is a rare thing in that it’s a disciplined and effective but largely nonprofessional movement, and if I were a Democratic funder I would spend money on figuring out how to build on that model instead of paying for more issue polls

Great new episode of UCLA Housing Voice podcast @shanedphillips.bsky.social, featuring @holz-bau.bsky.social on single-stairs & ecodistricts, and how they differ from TOD. Definitely worth the listen to learn more about these issues:

Very frustrating to me that I know of several great state-level advocacy organizations and progressive news outlets scrambling for funding, but the Beltway appears to be full of suitcases of money sitting around for anyone who wants to launch their own I’m Mad at Bluesky Institute

I /could/ be spending the night reading this gorgeous HP Lovecraft book...but instead I'll experience a different sort of weird horror. I'm going to liveskeet tonight's public hearing! The city wants to actually <gasp> rezone stuff on its own initiative!

Reflections on an afternoon bike ride home: Are we still enforcing traffic laws? Was there ever a time when we did? Is it troubling to anyone else that people keep speeding and running red lights and texting and killing thousands of people and nothing changes?

It should actually be like 8 stories

The CBC did a story on the NIMBYs fighting the rezoning for the elementary school in the Olympic Village. I'm happy with the quote I got in at the end! youtu.be/Z8j56MEne0c?...

I find it irritating in Canada to hear people argue that density won’t help with affordability, when it did exactly that for my father‘s immigrant family and many others like them.

I have very little patience for "studios and 1BRs are bad" takes. Basically evidence of low empathy or zero-sum thinking (*everyone* has people in their family+social circles who could benefit from more options and lower price for smaller units)

Bike / Park Oriented Development (BPOD?) ! A motion from OneCity councilor @lucymaloney.bsky.social aims to end the apartment ban next to bike streets and parks! We need liveable density on quiet leafy streets. Don’t like arterial density? Want alternatives to towers? Speak in support sept 17

Goats on a roof

Worried the proposed four storey school won’t fit the character of the neighbourhood? Adding some office space and housing on top of the school fixes that. Somewhere between 12 and 17 storeys is a good baseline, but to be safe we should add a few extra storeys to future-proof it.