• Mid-market rentals — for low-and moderate-income earners who don’t earn enough to afford today’s market rents
• Family-friendly rentals (3+ bedrooms) — for renting families who need more space
• Senior-oriented housing — for seniors looking to stay in the community as their needs change
• Rent-to-own options — for first-time buyers who can’t assemble a down payment
• Flexible and multi-generational forms — townhouses, cohousing, duplexes, and homes with secondary suites or coach houses that can serve as a mortgage helper or let family members age in place

Why this matters to me and my community

Time and again I hear from North Vancouver residents who are leaving our City for more affordable communities. Many of them still work here; they’ve simply traded a home they can afford for a long commute on and off the North Shore. Incomes are not keeping pace with the cost of housing.

Employers see the same problem from the other side. In conversations with local businesses, the North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce, not-for-profits and emergency service providers, I hear a consistent concern: without housing their staff can afford, they struggle to recruit and keep people. That matters most where it’s least visible. When the people who staff our fire halls, care homes and childcare centres can’t afford to live in the community they serve, it isn’t only an employer problem — it’s a community resilience problem. It also puts more cars on the bridges every day.

The pressure on existing tenants is just as real. As land and construction costs rise, much of our remaining affordable rental stock is aging. Those tenants face steady rent increases, the threat of renoviction, and displacement when older buildings are redeveloped.
That’s why I brought forward a motion to strengthen the supports and amounts developers must pay to tenants being displaced due to rental redevelopments.

There is no single fix. On Council I’ve supported the housing agreements, zoning changes and provincial alignment work that get the housing we need built. These efforts have had an impact over the past eight years. Our City now offers:

1. The most affordable rental prices on the North Shore* (but still out of reach for many)
2. The most new housing projects started on the North Shore *
3. The only North Shore municipality to meet the provincial housing directive for more housing – and we’re exceeding it!
4. A 450% increase in three-bedroom rental homes for families *
5. Upcoming cooling strategy for better temperature cooling for multi-unit buildings

If re-elected, I’ll keep pushing to make sure what gets built is what our community actually needs.

* Source – CMHC Housing Market Information Portal