CALGARY MAYOR ANNOUNCES $60M HOUSING INITIATIVE
Groups interested in building affordable rental housing can now apply for a new program initiated by the City of Calgary. On Thursday, the city announced it is providing $60 million in funding over three years as part of the Housing Capital Initiative (HCI). From now until Oct. 10, the city is taking HCI applications from charities, non-profit organizations and Indigenous groups seeking help with the cost of building new properties or acquiring existing buildings. The city would fund up to 30...
read moreB.C. CITY WANTS HOUSING PLAN DISCLOSURE ORDER QUASHED
The City of Vancouver has asked B.C. Supreme Court to quash an information commissioner’s order that it disclose plans for new rental housing sought in a freedom of information request. The B.C. Information and Privacy Commissioner’s Office made the order June 14 in response to a request under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. The city had withheld information in its response to the person requesting the information. It cited harm to financial or economic interests and...
read moreA DOWNTOWN APARTMENT FOR $1,200 A MONTH? HERE IS ONE GROUP’S PLAN ON HOW TORONTO CAN RETHINK ITS VACANT OFFICE SPACE
A Canadian think-tank has a plan to keep young people from fleeing urban centres in search of more affordable accommodations. As part of its Toboggan Flats project, Youthful Cities is working on a plan to convert vacant office spaces in Canada’s urban centres into residential co-living developments for young people struggling to pay rent in the country’s most expensive cities. “Downtowns are starting to hollow out because people aren’t coming back to work,” Robert Barnard, co-founder of...
read moreFEDERAL EMPLOYMENT BLOAT COSTING TAXPAYERS AT LEAST $10 BILLION ANNUALLY
Buried among the many tables in Statistics Canada’s June employment report are data on public sector employment: federal, provincial and local employees hired by departments, agencies, hospitals and schools, including universities and colleges. As of June, 4.412 million workers were public employees, representing 21.5 per cent of Canada’s workforce. That is an astonishing 972,000 more (28.3 per cent) than in 2014, when 3.439 million Canadians were working for governments. And the numbers don’t...
read moreWEEK OF JULY 15 2024 NEWSREEL WITH VANESSA TOPPLE
This week – looking back on her first year in office, it’s fair to say that Toronto mayor Olivia Chow has some successes and some failures but one thing is certain, she loves the attention....
read moreSTRAIT-AREA BUILDER AIMING FOR LOW RENT ON 2 NEW HOUSING PROJECTS
The developer of two new housing projects in the Strait of Canso area says he’s seeking every avenue to ease the financial burden on new renters. Brela Construction purchased a vacant school building in Evanston, N.S., from the Municipality of Richmond County in May to convert to affordable seniors’ housing. A month later, the Arichat company signed a development deal with the Town of Port Hawkesbury to set up housing units within walking distance of the Nova Scotia Community...
read moreAVISON YOUNG SELLS MONTREAL OFFICE BUILDING FOR RESIDENTIAL CONVERSION
Avison Young announced the sale of a Montreal office building that will be converted into residential housing, and said it sees other opportunities for conversions in the city. In a press release Thursday, Avison Young announced the sale of 1434 Sainte-Catherine St. West to 5AM Capital, saying the office building will be used for student housing due to its proximity to Concordia and McGill universities. “Repurposing this property into a home for students will give it a new life and contribute...
read moreWEST VANCOUVER APPROVES NEW DEMOVICTION PROTECTIONS FOR RENTERS
West Vancouver renters can rest a little easier knowing that developers will have to make significant accommodations for them should their existing homes be demolished and redeveloped. At a meeting Monday evening, council unanimously approved a newly created rental replacement and tenant assistance policy. The final version of the policy includes a more tailored approach to tenant relocation plans than previous iterations, considering factors such as the size of renters’ units, their length of...
read morePROPOSAL FOR RENTAL PROPERTY BYLAW TO UNDERGO PUBLIC CONSULTATION
North Battleford’s rental property situation is about to get a closer look following Monday night’s council meeting. “Under the mandate of council’s strategic plan, subsequent discussions related to community safety, community standards and housing challenges and as a result from complaints from the public and general community regarding substandard rental properties, the administration was directed to develop an approach to develop inventory for residential rental properties in the city,”...
read moreWEEK OF JULY 8 2024 NEWSREEL WITH VANESSA TOPPLE
This week, three different reports with the conclusion that the housing industry is precarious, both now and in the future. We discuss reports from RBC on new construction, an Angus Reid poll on immigration and third, from StatsCan on population....
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