Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content for your weekend reading.- Dan Gardner highlights how Stephen Harper is imposing exactly the kind of costly, top-down policies on Canada's provinces that he once railed against:This week,…
Housing
The Privatization of Social Housing
Last weekend, I spoke on a panel at the Annual Conference of the Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association. The panel was inspired in large part by the recent debate in Toronto…
Fighting energy poverty and the transition to zero-emission housing
Today CCPA released a new Climate Justice Project report, Fighting Energy Poverty in the Transition to Zero-Emission Housing: A Framework for BC, by yours truly, Eugene Kung (a lawyer with…
The Ontario NDP Platform
Pollsters tell us that Ontario’s New Democrats may double their seat total in next month’s provincial election. It’s also entirely conceivable that they could be part of a coalition government…
Vancouver’s Gay Housing Discrimination Problem
Housing discrimination has always been a little difficult to measure. Yet, even in a city as diverse and vibrant as Vancouver, it’s reported to happen. While it’s illegal to deny…
The deserted but beautiful homes of Detroit – A look at Kevin Bauman’s "100 Abandoned Houses" collection
Detroit has been the poster child of the American recession for number of years. While many Detroit organizations and residents are taking a “do-it-yourself” approach to rebuilding their city, their…
Recession Ahead?
TD Economics yesterday released a rather gloomy report, putting the odds of a US recession at 40%, and arguing that that Canadian economy is more vulnerable to recession than it…
Sunday Morning Links
Selected text for your weekend reading. - Edmund Pries points out how the right sees wasted public money and gratuitous tax slashing as tools to force cuts to programs which…
Deep thought
I can think of a few appropriate introductions to a plan belatedly acknowledging the existence of a housing crisis. But proudly pointing to past programs which have evidently accomplished nothing…
Tuition Increases by Stealth
On Tuesday night, Peterborough City Council approved a plan for a for-profit corporation to own and operate a new student residence at Trent University. I’m concerned that this may signal…
Decarbonizing homes and the price of gas
Our climate justice framework for BC is to eliminate fossil fuels by 2040. In the household sector, this poses a significant challenge, not so much in terms of technology and…
Is Social Assistance a “Poverty Pariah?”
An article in the current edition of NOW Magazine looks at social assistance in Ontario. The article is aptly entitled “Poverty Pariah,” in light of how apparently unpopular Ontario’s welfare…
Creating the right places
Yesterday we spent the afternoon filtering another 4,000 bottles of wine at The Oaks, for the Managed Alcohol Program. I learn a lot there, and it’s not just about winemaking.…
Tuesday Morning Links
This and that for your Tuesday reading.- Ian Welsh serves up some tough commentary as to whether Canadian voters saddled with unrepresentative and downright destructive governments are merely getting what…
How Rob Ford Can Fix Social Housing
I have an opinion piece in today’s Toronto Star regarding Toronto’s Mayor, Rob Ford, and the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC). Mr. Ford would like to see a considerable number…
Homelessness in Yellowknife
I’m in Yellowknife all week attending events relating to the launch of a policy report on homelessness. The report is one of several articles coming out of a multi-year research…
Of Decades Past and Future
As 2010 comes to a close, my hope for the coming decade is for an overhauled Canadian Parliament and similar changes to the BC Legislative Assembly. I doubt anything substantive…
On cooperatives and housing.
I'll get back to my electoral series eventually, I swear. But I had this weird idea today and I wanted to spell it out. It's not an argument; more just…
Using Open Data to drive good policy outcomes – Vancouver’s Rental Database
One of the best signs for open data is when governments are starting to grasp its potential to achieve policy objectives. Rather than just being about compliance, it is seen…