THE ORR REPORT: Closing a loophole for tenants and fighting ABC on modular homes, progressive taxation, funding the arts, and police in schools
Wow, what a whirlwind final week before Council goes on break for August.
So the biggest media story this week is probably the “mutual cessation of duties” between the city manager and the mayor’s office. I’m gonna let y’all read into that whatever you want, but I will say that in the three months I worked with Paul Mochrie I found him to be even-keeled, highly professional, and deeply knowledgeable about our city. I just hope the city will appropriately vet the next candidate through a third party selection process and not someone who is hand-picked by the mayor.
I wanted to finish my first months at City Hall strong, so I had three motions on the agenda.
The first motion passed, successfully closing a very specific loophole in the Tenant Relocation and Protection Policy (TRPP) which was brought to our attention by tenants.
The second motion was again focused on a simple, specific measure to protect people’s homes. My motion sought to protect 600 modular homes at city-owned sites across Vancouver by extending their leases to reflect the lifetime of the buildings. Modular housing is still a new program, introduced with the support of the provincial government back in 2017. Even though the homelessness crisis has only gotten worse since then, we’ve already lost a number of these units.
This should have been a no-brainer, but ABC voted against it. It was frustrating to see Ken Sim and ABC reject this common sense measure, but it’s another reminder of their misplaced priorities. Coming on the heels of their vote earlier this year to halt net new supportive housing in the city, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that ABC simply isn’t sincerely interested in ending homelessness.
My third motion, which would have directed staff to find new ways of generating revenue from those with the most ability to pay, was also shot down by ABC. I thought my motion was pretty low key – literally just asking staff to look into ways to raise new funds in a progressive manner. With ABC’s direction to staff to plan for limiting property tax increases to 2.5%, 1.5%, or even 0%, we are headed for significant public service cuts unless changes are made. The discussion at Council got a little silly, frankly, but it became clear that ABC just really doesn’t like even the suggestion of taxing the rich. Lenny Zhou even bizarrely claimed that it was discriminatory against rich people. I corrected him that rich people are not, in fact, a protected group in the Charter.
My three motions were just a couple of hours in a week full of meetings. Here’s a quick recap.
On Tuesday, after the Chris Morrisey Day and Emancipation Day proclamation (started by our own Jean Swanson), we had our 2025 Climate Plan Update presentation from staff. I asked what the impact of LNG in new builds would have towards our climate targets, and I asked about how to create an urban marine protected area for False Creek like Port Moody has proposed. The roadblock is that it’s a jurisdictional black hole so I got staff to come back and clarify what that looks like. Shout out to False Creek Friends.
I was actually appointed to advisory committees! (Food Policy, Persons with Disabilities Advisory Committee, Urban Indigenous Peoples’ Advisory Committee and the Intergovernmental Task Force). After that we had a report recommending changing the latest closing time of 3 a.m. to all areas Downtown and extending the latest closing times outside Downtown to 3 a.m. on weekends and 2 a.m. on weeknights. Council decided to extend Downtown hours to 4 a.m. Concerns about Skytrain and Night Bus aside, I passed an amendment to properly fund groups like PACE, WISH, and Good Night Out to ensure that gendered violence is prevented. I got to say on CTV news that I was glad that council voted to expand hours for safe consumption sites.
Next up I attempted to amend a demolition permit bylaw for a former SRO at 320 Union Street. The City said no to $2.1 million under the SRA conversion fee by-law, just like it did with the Clifton hotel, simply because the building is in disrepair. “But isn’t this exactly why we have the SRA conversion fee?” I asked. Staff said the project would not be viable otherwise. Sigh. They were satisfied that having the three units “secured at no more than CMHC city-wide average rents for a period of five years” was satisfactory. Short of asking for the full $2.1 million conversion fee, I instead opted for what I thought might be an easy win, extending the period of city-wide average rents to ten years. It was voted down.
After that I pulled the “Standardized Apartment Districts and City-Initiated Zoning Changes to Implement Broadway Plan and Cambie Corridor Plan” referral report. The thing about referral reports is that you can’t ask about the merits of the report, just the protocol by which it came to council. This is a massive report with sweeping changes and I did not have enough time to consult with experts or the public. Once it gets referred it falls into a cone of silence and I’m on my own. Pete Fry abstained; I voted against it.
Wednesday was a doozie. While it started off with a lot of procedural stuff, I had a few questions about the banning of gun-shaped lighters, notably, can we ask the province to offer an amnesty program to buy back the existing lighters, because as Karen Ward reminded us on Bluesky, banning them outright will simply increase their value on the streets.
Next up was a motion introduced by Pete Fry per the Racial and Ethno-Cultural Equity Advisory Committee, asking that Council express its concern regarding the renewal of the School Liaison Officer (SLO) Program in Vancouver Schools without a full review – and support an independent review of the SLO program. Rather than speak to the specific recommendations from the Racial and Ethno-Cultural Equity Advisory Committee, most ABC Councillors unfortunately chose to simply reiterate their support for cops in schools and to speak in general in support of law and order. It was absolutely ridiculous that I had to remind council what the definition of equity is. That it’s about equality of outcome not equality of opportunity. Ugh.
The results were disappointing if not surprising. We all remember that Ken Sim and ABC swept in back in 2022 after the unprecedented endorsement of the Vancouver Police Union. I was proud to vote in favour of the motion, but sadly only Pete and OneCity’s Lucy Maloney did likewise. My COPE colleague on the Vancouver School Board, Suzie Mah, will also of course continue to advocate for thorough and independent reviews of the reinstated SLO program.
The next motion, another one brought forward by Pete Fry, was a real heartbreaker. The City’s Arts and Culture Advisory Committee brought forward a bunch of great resolutions, and dozens of passionate speakers made the case for Vancouver to properly invest in and support the arts. I was absolutely gutted, then, when the Council majority decided to strike and replace the brilliant resolutions, amending the motion almost beyond recognition. I voted against. I’m quoted in an in-depth article explaining the original motion and what happened to it. (You can check out my remarks to council in support of the original motion here.)
Council will resume sitting in September, and my team and I are hard at work preparing new motions. This summer, we’ve been talking to folks about ways to make the Empty Homes Tax more effective. The EHT was a centrepiece of COPE’s campaign back in 2014, and we’re committed to strengthening this anti-speculation mechanism. Stay tuned for a new motion on that!
I continue to learn and to adjust to this new job. Thank you for following along, and thank you to everyone who has reached out – I’m trying to stay as accessible as possible.
Along with friends and colleagues in COPE and other parties, I’m looking forward to attending many of the Pride events coming up over the next ten days in Vancouver. Maybe I’ll see you there!