When housing is scarce, REITs profit — Jack Sandor for Victoria City Council 2026 When we build more housing, REITs lose money.

I wrote another blog post! This one's a short one about REITs and their relationship with new housing supply.

www.jacksandor.ca/blog/what-re...

See also, "the experts in [public high-level infrastructure cost analysis org] could never be wrong!". Lots of playing around with procurement methods at the top level (what said orgs understand) and very little attention paid to things like design choices and standards.

I’ve brought up transit cost escalation with some politicians and they’re generally just not aware it’s happening at all. Especially provincial/federal ones.

More aware are municipal politicians who follow transit and read people like Reece or Alon.

"A final *year* of debate and planning was required to raise the number of floors for the school for 3 to 4."

This is in an elementary school next door to downtown Vancouver.

Nice video with aerial footage of Lyon's new T6 extension that clearly shows two key ingredients of French trams that make it difficult to replicate them here, unless we change the way we design streets:
- accepting an extremely narrow single-lane street
- accepting bending

youtu.be/RMxHZDGYGc4?...

Locations of new homes built in Switzerland in 2018

Country-wide effects of new housing supply: Evidence from moving chains, by Lukas Hauck and Frederic Kluser

Another new paper on housebuilding and vacancy chains, this time with data on every Swiss resident & housing unit! An interesting context given Switzerland's high immigration, very large rented sector and strong tenancy rent controls... frederickluser.github.io/files/Moving...

Anyone who says we don’t need zoning reform because we should just build subsidized housing should go watch a public hearing on any proposed project.

Edmonton city council just wasted an entire day over adding 30 affordable units.

BCT had requested a 15k hour expansion for Vic to *maintain* service levels due to increasing congestion.

In denying expansion, and actually cutting, the province has made clear that Transit isn't a core service and that they are fine with seeing service quality degrade.

So much for Climate goals.

For better or worse, they are still holding onto the layover space. I think BC Transit wouldn't mind having it given how little is available downtown.

My dream would be to more of Crystal Garden repurposed for transit (eventually rapid transit), much like Waterfront Station is today.

Better Island Transit Frequent and affordable bus service connecting Victoria with central Vancouver Island would provide many user and community benefits including a low-stress alternative to driving, independent mobility...

I think someday can happen quite soon! Are you and/or ST Nanaimo connected with betterislandtransit.ca? The cost of running reliable, public intercity bus service is surprisingly low. I think a coordinated push from along the corridor could do wonders.

Get Involved Donate Join our Mailing LIst Volunteer Interested in more and better transit? Sign up for our mailing list, sign up to volunteer, and join our Discord! We organize regular social activities as well…

We are standing with groups across the province to fight for better transit in BC, including @movementyvr.bsky.social, @climatejusticeyyj.bsky.social , the West Coast Climate Action Network, and @bcruralhealth.bsky.social.

Consider getting involved! bettertransityyj.ca/join-better-...

If you or people you know take transit in BC (especially in #yyj), this is going to hurt. We need to get the word out and put the pressure on about how important expansion, not stagnation (i.e. less service over time) is!

On the other hand, I wish we could get this level of detailed analysis for Canadian projects! Who knows if e.g. UBCx is being held up in part by very expensive station design choices?

This is especially disappointing after seeing Squamish featured as part of @bcpolicy.bsky.social's great seminar on housing policy.

Our latest newsletter is out! mailchi.mp/a43ac17f9af1...

As a highlight, we now have our membership structure set up! You can sign up to become a member at bettertransityyj.ca/membership/

Interesting point about value engineering

There's a lot BC can learn from in this excellent report. Perhaps most directly relevant for #yyj : we need to plan transit around our goals as a region, not around ideology. Also, we need to empower at least one set of decision-makers to actually build what we need as a region.

Conversely, it's both a genuine livability problem and somewhat embarrassing that getting from Downtown Vic to Langford (15km, with large sections at highway speeds) takes equivalent time to Downtown Vancouver to Surrey (30km). Rapid transit can help fill affordability gaps, if only we had it!

Very happy to have collaborated with CSA Group on this report examining successes and challenges in transit project construction in Canada and the lessons we can learn for future projects.

www.csagroup.org/article/publ...

Every few months we get someone new to the housing discourse misinterpret some statistics and get mislead into believing it's not a housing shortage.

Fortunately that idea falls apart simply by asking why some markets seem to be immune to financialization.

www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...

Housing is a Housing Problem Co-authored by Jens von Bergmann and cross-posted at MountainMath. The main housing problem in Canada is that there is not enough of it. We can see this by looking at prices and rents, but also by …

Are "pre-rebuttals" a thing, like "pre-zonings"?

If so, here's a pre-rebuttal from @jensvb.bsky.social and I to the latest argument that supply doesn't matter (from CCPA, sigh).

The Key: Doubling up is the demographic indicator demonstrating our shortage. homefreesociology.com/2025/07/06/h...

This is why BC’s housing crisis hasn’t been solved yet The magnitude of the housing shortage is huge, the problems chronic, but the housing crisis is solvable. Throughout the province and country, the housing crisis is marked by high rents and prices, ...

Agree, I would worry for a left that doesn't recognize how critical the shortage of homes is to the crisis. The supply shortage isn't the only thing, but it's a fundamental driver.

Tried to synthesize some of the evidence for a progressive audience here: bcpolicy.ca/2025/12/16/h...

The crisis is a shortage of housing. This is crystal clear in the data; rents go up when there are fewer empty homes on the market, and rents go down when landlords can’t find tenants for their rentals.

Victoria Airport Service Options We need your input! BC Transit is exploring improved service opportunities to the Victoria International Airport (YYJ). BC Transit most recently presented service options to local decision-makers in F...

BC Transit is looking for your input on service to the airport. Take the survey, or chat with them in person.
We encourage you to tell transit to fix overcrowding and improve frequencies on important routes before investing into airport service. #yyj #bctransit
engage.bctransit.com/victoria-air...

Saanich leads pushes for more accessible elevators in B.C. buildings - Saanich News New elevator standards would improve housing accessibility and affordability, says Saanich councillor

Should be an uncontroversial win for affordability 🙏

saanichnews.com/2026/02/01/s...

Doing the good work. We also are spinning up a little group to advocate for changes @fasttracktoronto.bsky.social

It's really crazy travelling Europe and realising how much more advanced the signal and track infra is on their streetcars vs ours. No, Boston and SF are not good examples of streetcar infra.

I'm glad someone is finally able to delegate to our officials what Europe has had for decades.

The nodes and corridors approach segregates our city.

Those who can afford to buy a single-detached home get to live on quiet, tree-lined streets. Renters and apartment-dwellers get busy, polluted arterials.

More housing options everywhere is not just about affordability. It's also about equity.

There is a way to make Vancouver buses up to 18% faster that no one is talking about.
It does not require digging tunnels.

The solution is hidden in plain sight at our intersections.

A screenshot of a Facebook Marketplace-style listing for a rental property. The main photo shows a modern, two-story duplex or townhouse with a dark metal upper siding, light brick lower level, and two separate front entrances with concrete steps. Title: 3 Beds 2.5 Baths - Townhouse Price: $1,650 / Month Location: 12772 114 Street NW – Calder, Edmonton Key Details: Described as a "BRAND NEW" main floor suite in a multi-family building. Available February 1, with an incentive offering up to 1 week early move-in for free.

A table titled "Row Housing / Duplex Housing / Semi-detached Housing / Single Detached Housing (excluding heat and water)". The table compares two rental metrics for different unit types: AMRR (Average Market Residential Rent) for 2024 and MARR (Maximum Allowable Residential Rent) for 2025, the latter being calculated at 80% of the AMRR. Bachelor: AMRR $1,051 | MARR $841 One-Bedroom: AMRR $1,187 | MARR $950 Two-Bedroom: AMRR $1,423 | MARR $1,138 Three-Bedroom: AMRR $1,681 | MARR $1,345 Four-Bedroom: AMRR $1,967 | MARR $1,573 Five-Bedroom: AMRR $2,301 | MARR $1,841 Six-Bedroom: AMRR $2,692 | MARR $2,154

This brand new 3 bedroom home in an 8-unit townhouse is going for less than average market rent at $1,650.

That's rezoning for housing choice in action!