Housing policy a cesspool

Re: Council killing our city, Opinion, July 3

Every once in a while an article appears in print media that I want to forward to everyone I know. Prime example: Elizabeth Murphy’s brilliantly cogent analysis of how Gregor Robertson and his merry band of hypocrites on council have sold this city lock, stock and barrel to the developers they so loyally serve.

Murphy has crafted an extraordinarily incisive study of how planning in Vancouver really works, and how Vision has repeatedly used zoning changes and densification to favour developers.

Murphy lifts the lid off the cesspool that is Vancouver’s housing and development policy and issues a clarion call for reform we desperately need but are unlikely to get.

Murphy’s piece should be read by all Vancouverites, especially those planning to vote in October’s civic election. Vision’s solution to the worsening housing crisis in this city seems primarily to consist of the neighbourhood plans that are in fact destroying neighbourhoods around the city. These can be summarized as follows:

1. Demolish unaffordable single-family housing;

2. Replace with unaffordable multi-family housing;

3. Problem solved!

Gordon Watson, Vancouver