Presented by: Emilie Adin (City of New Westminster), Michael Epp (City of North Vancouver), Lee-Ann Garnett (City of Burnaby), and Andrea Hudson (City of Victoria)

Given the conference was held in British Columbia, it was fitting to have a session dedicated to housing affordability in the province. Municipal planners from the City of New Westminster, City of North Vancouver, City of Burnaby, and City of Victoria navigated their joint presentation by taking the viewers through a game of housing policy Snakes & Ladders. The snakes represented challenges or unintended consequences with policy implementation and ladders symbolized successful policies and strength.

Each city had an existing strength and problem to address which led the municipality to approach the problem and solution with a unique perspective even if utilizing the same policy. The policies are listed below:

• Infill development incentives
• Upzoning
• Rental use zoning
• Inclusionary zoning
• Density bonusing
• Streamlined development application process
• Tenant assistance policy
• Undeveloped and abandoned land development incentives

However, not all of the above housing policies were ladders or successful, and some had unintended consequences and cautions (snakes) for municipal planners such as, over-densification, lack of staff resources, uncontrolled market prices, lack of decision maker engagement, and the role and power of city council. This presentation highlighted challenges and successes implementing housing policies and the role of municipal planners in championing affordable housing projects.

Speaker: Mitchell Silver (American Institute of Certified Planners)
“When you say no to something, you say yes to something else”

As former City of New York Parks Commissioner, Mitchell Silver explored the application of equity, access, inclusion, and resiliency to advance the public welfare and improvement of public parks.

Open spaces and public parks are important for residents and especially for those living in apartment buildings and dense cities. Centretown is one such community in Ottawa that is lacking high-quality parks. As such, many Cahdco developments include shared resident outdoor amenity space for residents to experience the benefits of outdoor spaces. Victory Gardens is a community garden at CCOC’s Beaver Barracks located in Centretown.  Other Ottawa examples include Multifaith Housing Initiative’s (MHI) Veterans’ House which has extensive landscaping, including a dog run and both a healing and edible garden and MHI’s The Haven which is in proximity to a large park and includes “The Grande Allee” a pedestrian oriented public space.