Bob Williams Answers
Affordable Housing
1. What could Vancity do to create more affordable housing for both low- and middle-income Vancouverites?
2. How can Vancity use financial products or services to support the creation of more rental housing units in Vancouver?
This may be our toughest public policy problem.
Much can be achieved by shifting taxes onto land, rather than buildings. The impact of that would be to begin to lower land values or costs, and to incent people to build. We should of course make more federal and provincial funds available for social and affordable housing. The Vancouver Property Endowment could also be used more effectively.
At Vancity we have created some social housing. We could do more. Our branch on East Hastings at Kamloops is a model for which I was responsible. This branch includes two floors of housing for single moms and one floor for single ladies. It works really well.
We have a new V-P for Social Finance, David Berge, who is developing several ideas that involve working with existing housing co-ops that have almost paid off their mortgages and have huge equity, for example. In partnership, they could do a great deal. We might also have a special fund for this purpose.
Transportation
1. What can Vancity do to provide incentives to its members to use alternatives to private vehicles in the same way it has facilitated alternative transportation programs for its 2,400 staff?
2. How can Vancity use financial products or services to support the widespread adoption of alternatives to private vehicle use in Vancouver?
The increase in transit ridership in the past decade is quite significant, and needs to continue. How? Part of the answer lies in density. Great housing density directly related to transit is the key. Patrick Condon at UBC has argued for higher density along such existing transit corridors as Hastings, Broadway, etc. That makes sense. We also need to move on the Evergreen Line to the Coquitlam / Tri Cities areas. Our greatest need is for labour mobility between the Tri Cities and Surrey - Langley.
Vancity has supported moves toward densification. I appeared before Vancouver City Council on Vancity's behalf in support of the lane housing initiative which they passed last year. We located our own headquarters right on top of Skytrain at Main and Terminal to encourage transit use by our own employees.
The U-Pass, which we have supported for several years, has been very effective in getting university students to support and use public transit. Our Wellness programs have people running, jogging and cycling. All of these initiatives should be expanded and improved.
Citizen Engagement and Involvement
1. What could Vancity do to include more citizen engagement in its decision-making processes?
2. How can local branches engage citizens more directly in Vancouver's 23 neighbourhoods?
At the moment, our Annual General Meeting in April is the main event for Vancity member involvement. I am arguing in this campaign that we have to do better than that. We should, in addition, have a major dialogue around the future actions or directions we might take.
There's a need to use our good name around significant public policy issues where we ourselves can make a difference, and where we might influence others - and public policy itself.
We need to relate more specifically to our community and sub-regional centres. Surrey will be our biggest city. We need to work with them on their new city centre (Central City), and to work with NGOs in that area to help extend the social economy, and the civil society.
Other
1. What else would you like to tell Think City supporters about your candidacy?
This is a crucial election for Vancity, with many options for our members to consider. I invite your consideration of the numerous policy initiatives I have posted to my website, and my FaceBook page.
Thanks for considering these ideas. It's our future.