Dave Thompson 🇨🇦

Unregulated drug deaths in Greater Victoria have continued to decline, with the last 4 months (May to August) being down more than 25% compared to the same period in 2024. #yyj

Infographic from destination greater Victoria showing Victoria named number one small city in the world 3 years in a row

For the third year in a row, Victoria has been named the No. 1 Small City in the World
admin.tourismvictoria.com/content/uplo...
#yyj

That's a good and tough question. It is dynamic in that population changes, and also household formation changes (if rents go down, more households form), also if property purchase costs or interest rates go down, people buy and leave rentals. So many factors.

Have you seen this petition yet? “Xavier’s Law” Prevent access to the road for dangerous drivers until case conclusion

This story is heartbreaking.

"Xavier’s Law" petition to "prevent access to the road for dangerous drivers until case conclusion."
c.org/yDhRGbzcjv
#yyj #safety

Victoria one-bedroom rents drop an average of $150 over past year Report from Rentals.ca puts cost of a one-bedroom at $2,013, a drop of 7.5% from a year ago

Victoria rents have dropped.

Allowing more homes has raised the vacancy rate from 1% to 2%. We need to achieve a balanced rate of 4%.

www.vicnews.com/local-news/v...
#yyj #housing

The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.

Image of a jigsaw puzzle with many housing initiatives on it

Yup it's not a magic bullet. It's one small piece of the puzzle. We spent so much time talking about it in 2022 and it overshadowed far more important things.

‘An honour’: Victoria named world’s best small city for third consecutive year Victoria has once again captured global attention, earning the title of World's Best Small City in Condé Nast Traveler's 2025 Readers' Choice Awards.

Victoria has once again captured global attention, earning the title of World's Best Small City in Condé Nast Traveler's 2025 Readers' Choice Awards.

😞

Canada’s National Observer unveils a powerful tool for fighting disinformation Civic Searchlight brings together municipal meeting transcripts from across Canada into a searchable database for the first time. It has already been used to fight disinformation, report on impact, di...

Today, @nationalobserver.com is launching a tool to search municipal meeting transcripts across Canada. The tool has already helped us unearth a climate denial network targeting towns and cities, report on AI data centers, measure our impact and more.

Journalists and researchers, sign up for free!

I agree the greatest need is deeply affordable. And we are taking other actions to increase the amount of shelter rate and other deeply affordable housing.

Workers, seniors, students, families and others also need to access housing.

Governments can do more than one thing at a time.

The reason I am spending any time on this is because there is frankly a lot of disinformation being circulated by housing opponents.

The literature discusses how deeply the moving chains go into the affordability end of the housing spectrum.
...

Vacancy chains How building expensive new homes lowers the price of old homes

www.buildingabundance.ca/p/vacancy-ch...

Disinformation about municipal policy and politics is increasing sharply. I see it literally every day.

It's misdirecting people, and making them unhappy, angry, and disconnected from reality.
#yyj #disinformation #misinformation

Come and see the cute hermit crabs.

Stay for the housing market economics.

vimeo.com/117375257?fl...
#housing #affordability #yyj #urbanism

Hermit Crabs Line Up By Size to Exchange Shells Get in line.

Did someone just ask for a hermit crab conga line video narrated by David Attenborough? www.discovermagazine.com/hermit-crabs...

Hermit Crabs Line Up By Size to Exchange Shells Get in line.

David Attenborough explains in a video here and yes the crabs are very cute: www.discovermagazine.com/hermit-crabs...

☝️"Vacancy chains unfold when households with higher income move into newly built units ... Doing so releases their former units for occupancy by households with lower income. When lower-income households move into the newly vacated units, they in turn create vacancies in their former homes."

Image of text from linked report discussing vacancy chains

Image of illustration from linked report showing how vacancy chains work

Landlords and housing opponents hate this one trick.
assets.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/sites/cmhc/p...
#Housing #affordability #yyj

Renewables > Coal

First time ever.

#climateaction

In Victoria there has been a shift in projects from condo to rental, and the rental vacancy rate is still well below balanced. #yyj

From the article: "Eventually, industry experts say the units will be bought. 'The absorption is there,' said Zayadi. Especially in Greater Victoria, which is moving from glut to cuts, where experts say less supply is forecasted to be coming online in years to come"
1/2...

Large wood poles with wires generally are not owned by cities. Cities do own the small metal posts with traffic and parking signs.

This is great! Every student that lives on campus takes pressure off of Victoria's rental market, and reduces commuting. The University has the land—they just need the money to build. Funding this UVic residence was a win-win decision, and one the province should keep repeating.
#yyj

Janky sidewalk is dangerous

The second half of the 20th Century left our cities and our planet with many problems and this is one of them. Very expensive post retrofits are needed. Owners need to keep their hedges trimmed back under municipal bylaws.

Guns (less than a quarter as many tho)

Governments have built cities and regions in a way that makes it unsafe and/or impractical for many people to use any other mode of transportation, with resulting crashes, local air pollution, GHG emissions, and physical and mental health impacts. There is a lot of renovating to do.

510 beds planned for UVic with $178M high-density student housing build The province is supporting a high-density student housing build for the University of Victoria, which aims to alleviate affordability and availability challenges for students that often lead to long commutes and less time spent on campus.

The province is supporting a high-density student housing build for the University of Victoria, which aims to alleviate affordability and availability challenges for students that often lead to long commutes and less time spent on campus.

Japanese tea ceremony demonstration at the Victoria tea festival

At the Victoria tea festival

At the Victoria tea festival

Lined up for the Victoria tea festival

Japanese tea ceremony demonstration at the Victoria Tea Festival today, which is packed and was linen up down the block, and with such a diverse crowd! Friendship, warmth, kindness and civility. Thanks to www.theteasociety.org www.victeafestrevival.org
#yyj

This is correct. My opinions, coming from my personal email.