THE ORR REPORT: Big win for housing as a human right at UBCM in Victoria, ABC blocks improvement of Empty Homes Tax, and the fight against austerity ramps up

I’m exhausted. I just wrapped up a busy week in Victoria where I took part in my first Union of B.C. Municipalities meeting as an elected representative. 

I attended along with other members of Vancouver City Council as we met with MLAs, NGOs, labour reps, and media. The UBCM is a big deal; it’s the annual gathering of municipal government reps from across B.C. We gather to debate motions, to compare notes, and to unite with like-minded folks fighting for what we’re fighting for in Vancouver. 

For example, nine municipalities brought forward a motion to declare housing as a human right. Mary Wagner from Langford spoke in support and nobody was against. The resolution passed. Vancouver was one of the cities that brought this issue to the UBCM. In June, a motion I co-sponsored with Councillor Pete Fry passed unanimously. 

The province-wide campaign in support of this motion, coordinated with the help of the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition, emphasizes that the human right to housing must inform legislation and government strategies on housing and homelessness. This has wide-ranging implications, not least of which is to heighten the urgency with which we demand scaled-up investments in public, social, and co-op housing. A recent report on the affordability gap in housing found that 98% of all affordable rental stock created between 2018 and 2023 in Metro Vancouver was through the non-market sector. Treating housing as a human right means reinvesting in non-market housing! 

In another collaboration at UBCM, councillors from New Westminster, Nanaimo, Victoria, Port Moody, Burnaby, Courtenay, Parksville, Squamish, Saanich, Penticton, Powell River, North Van and even the village of Tahsis supported an emergency resolution on Palestine. The resolution called for a two-way arms embargo between Canada and Israel, asked the province to remove Israeli wines from BC Liquor Stores, and for the province to support the resettlement of Palestinian newcomers. The motion needed three-fifths of delegates for it to be added to the agenda, but we didn’t quite get that. It was very close, and certainly over half the room supported it and we got some media coverage for our efforts. 

Elsewhere, the resolution that had passed in Vancouver (on my second day in office) to protect pets in rentals somehow failed at UBCM. There must have been a lot of landlords in the room. So too did a motion on poverty reduction. That motion previously contained a clause to advocate for UBI which was severed out. Inexplicably the UBI clause passed. 

Mental health supports for local government officials also passed, as well as a special resolution co-sponsored by the Tla’amin First Nation and UBCM Executive to help local governments transform their approach to reconciliation, in alignment with the Province’s commitment to implement the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It was the first ever resolution brought forward by a First Nation. 

Also at UBCM, I was able to meet and support public service workers and union leaders who are currently on strike or in the midst of collective bargaining. COPE’s outreach committee has been busy mobilizing our members to support workers in these fights. The Coalition of Progressive Electors will always be on the side of workers. See you on the picket lines! 

The week before UBCM was a busy one at City Council. 

ABC voted down my common sense motion to reverse their cuts to the Empty Homes Tax rate. This was disappointing, if not surprising. I wrote a full op-ed on the rationale for raising the EHT to 5% and the dual benefits of this groundbreaking anti-speculation measure first highlighted in COPE’s election campaign way back in 2014. The EHT has worked spectacularly, raising about $170 million for affordable housing initiatives and reducing vacant homes. (Read more here!) 

On the positive side, a motion I co-sponsored with OneCity Councillor Lucy Maloney to make it easier to approve vertical farming sites in Vancouver was passed. As I said in my comments to Council, vertical farming is one of a whole suite of initiatives we need to take at the City level to encourage food security and food sovereignty - which is  now more important than ever.  

In other news, there were some new announcements and much speculation about the increasingly crowded mayoral race for next year. 

Here’s the bottom line for me, for the Coalition of Progressive Electors, and for the folks I’m hearing from on the frontlines of the economic and social crises we’re facing in this city: We need a Mayor who will fight for affordable housing, fight for climate action, and fight for fully-funded public services. 

My biggest focus in the coming weeks and months is fighting against ABC’s push for an austerity budget that could see many vital services cut back and hundreds of workers lose their jobs. As I told the Vancouver Sun in their most recent article on the subject, “We have to resist ABC’s austerity budget that cuts staff and public services as a cheap election gimmick.”

Tuesday is National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. This is an important date to commemorate and to take action for justice and redress for Indigenous peoples. One concrete way to do that is to support local Indigenous-owned small businesses. On Tuesday there’ll be a pop-up market at 1312 Kingsway featuring products from Sister Sage and a number of other vendors. 

October promises to be another busy month. Stay tuned for more frequent reports from me, and follow COPE on all our social platforms for all the latest. 

Next year’s election is just over one year away. The next 12 months is going to be a lot of work - and a lot of fun!