ADAM OLSEN -- I hope our housing policy will provide the safety, security and good feelings that we are reminded of when thinking about the fondest memories of our grandparents' house
Recently, I was hanging out with a bunch of political candidates in this
upcoming federal election. I was asked to share with them my experience as a
candidate, and now as a Member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly.
We were talking about the power of storytelling, and I was reminded of a
beautiful example from the 2017 election.
It was still fairly early in the campaign and we were on the stage in
the multi-purpose room at Stelly’s Secondary in Central Saanich. The BC Greens
had launched our housing policy just a few hours before the meeting. Housing
was developing as the key ballot box question of the election.
This is a difficult situation for a candidate. I was on the run from one
event to the next throughout the day, and barely able to dig into the specifics
of these complex and crucially important platform planks, that were offering
bold and contentious initiatives.
Bringing it home
The BC NDP candidate rolled out his party's policy to build a massive
number of new units. The BC Liberal candidate was on the defensive as his party
stewarded one of the worst housing crises in the history of the province, but
yet had a handful of sound bites to fear monger about the BC Greens' new
proposals. I supported our position on housing but I had yet to have the
opportunity to understand the nuances and so I was feeling out of my depth.
I was a ball of nerves; however, I knew the outcome we were aiming to
achieve.
... they want
to wrap bandages around a deep social and economic problem by building housing
units ... and we want to ensure each and every one of you has the ability to
create a home
When it came to my turn, third or fourth, I opened with an
acknowledgement that what the audience had just heard was two political parties
battling over who could deliver (or why they didn’t deliver) housing units.
This is a common view of housing held by most political parties and their
politicians. The basics are ... increase supply and the market takes care of
the rest.
Even though more supply of housing units had come on-line in the last
decade than maybe ever before in our province and construction companies have
been barely able to keep up, still the housing market was bubbling dangerously
close to bursting and housing units were out of reach and unaffordable for many
British Columbians.
Take a deep breath
I had a different idea that night. I invited the audience to join me in
closing their eyes.
“Do you remember your grandparent’s family home? Pick the fondest
memory you have and dwell for a moment just outside. Linger a little near a
favourite tree or a garden of flowers and vegetables vibrating with the buzzing
wings of the bumblebees”.
“Freeze that perfect memory in time as you reach to open the front
door. Turn the handle, push, pause, inhale. Flooding back are familiar smells
and sounds of grandma's and grandpa’s home with fresh baked bread, soup and
always a full cookie jar of old-school oatmeal cookies”.
Our federal and provincial governments made a decision decades ago that
housing is a commodity.
Rather than it being an instrument to provide a safe and secure
foundation for people to build on, it’s an investment, a place to store savings
and a key economic driver. As it turns out, that was a costly decision in which
the winners have accumulated tremendous wealth and the losers are devastated by
generational poverty.
“I hope our housing policy will provide the safety, security, and
good feelings that we are reminded of when thinking about the fondest memories
of our grandparents' house”, I said confidently.
“The difference between our approach and that of my colleagues on the
stage is they want to wrap bandages around a deep social and economic problem
by building housing units ... and we want to ensure each and every one of you
has the ability to create a home”.
Safety, security and good feelings
I have written about my idea of
home recently and I'm thankful to have thought of that moment again today. I’m
as committed to that vision today as I was at that forum. Two years has passed
and many new housing policies have been enacted based on counting units.
To be self-critical, I do not think we have done as good a job as we
could have done in the previous months working to shift the paradigm. That is
something I’m going to lean into.
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