It is with a heavy heart that I write this guest edition of MMB. Ron Rapp and I knew each other in Toronto, where he held a senior position with a major builder and I was CEO of the Greater Toronto Home Builders’ Association. Then, of course, at GVHBA, when Ron was a valuable member of the Board.
Ron was a consummate professional, a leader and people person who cared deeply for the residential construction industry, working tirelessly to ensure its members’ needs were expeditiously addressed.
Although Ron’s presence is sorely missed, his legacy will certainly live on.
It has been 12 years since I retired from GVHBA after serving as President and CEO for 19 years, but I’ve kept in touch, maintaining friendships with many members, some of whom have spent time with Carolyn and me at our home in Dayspring, Nova Scotia, a waterfront community on the province’s South Shore.
I found there’s lots of activities to be involved in during the post-retirement years. I’ve kept my hand in issues related to development, homebuilding and renovation through an appointment by Municipal Council to the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg’s Planning Advisory Committee, which I had both the pleasure and challenge of chairing for five years.
During the same period, the provincial housing minister appointed me to the Western Regional Housing Authority Board, which I chaired for four years. The Authority is responsible for the delivery and management of provincial social housing in all eight Nova Scotia municipalities west of Halifax.
I also write an op-ed opinion column – Here’s What I’m Thinking – for a regional SaltWire weekly newspaper that was recently purchased by Postmedia Network, the same media group that publishes the Vancouver Sun and Province.
And for the past decade, I’ve served as a volunteer firefighter and provincially certified medical first responder with Dayspring and District Fire/Rescue, responding to structure fires, wildfires, motor vehicle collisions, medicals and other emergencies.
The Lovely Carolyn keeps busy as well. A skilled genealogist, she is currently writing a book about her family’s deep roots in Nova Scotia, dating back to 1750.
Monday Morning Briefing occupies a special place among my many fond GVHBA memories. When I launched MMB on Oct. 23, 2000 – Volume 1 Issue 1 – I had no idea it was going to survive the test of time. My last MMB, Volume 12 Issue 33, was published Oct. 29, 2012, the day I retired.
Dawn Sondergaard told me this column is Volume 24 Issue 26. I am delighted MMB continues to inform members, government officials and an assortment of other individuals throughout Metro Vancouver.
The past 50 years of GVHBA/HAVAN’s existence have been eventful on many fronts, yet the more things change, the more they remain the same.
Housing affordability continues to be a challenge throughout Metro Vancouver and beyond, and government regulation and red tape has worsened over the years. I used to remind elected officials and senior bureaucrats that considering the significant economic benefits created by the homebuilding industry, government at all levels should be rolling out the red carpet, not enshrouding us in endless red tape.
The crippling array of development cost charges (DCCs), community amenity charges (CACs), taxes, fees and levies contribute mightily to the costs builders must pass on to home buyers, further eroding housing affordability. Moreover, permitting and approval times lengthen as applications often navigate snail-slow across the desks of the folks responsible for issuance. To be fair, I understand mutually beneficial fast-tracking processes are in place in some municipalities.
NIMBYism, too, is as prevalent as ever. There’s always someone protesting the creation of, say, affordable entry-level housing, which we countered with an effective Where Will Our Children Live? media campaign.
Then there’s the example of a group of residents who tried to block the development of a mid-rise seniors condominium project proposed in their leafy Dunbar neighbourhood of single-family homes. I recall reminding some older residents they just might want to consider moving there themselves – right in their community, with familiar shops and services – when their current homes and yards become too much for them to maintain as they age. To their credit, many of the residents saw the validity in my reasoning.
Over the years, many milestones were created by GVHBA/HAVAN – the first-time home buyer seminar, which won awards from the U.S.-based National Association of Home Builders and the Canadian Home Builders’ Association; the Parade of New Homes; Parade of Renovated Homes; Consumer Renovation Seminar; participation in the BC Home and Garden Show and Fall Home Show, which both showcased the talents of association members; introduction of the Under-40 Committee; and many others.
I’ve always been impressed and delighted by members’ participation on the various committees and task forces. Their professionalism, expertise and eagerness contribute significantly to the association’s success.
Committee members, along with the Board of Directors and excellent staff combine to ensure the association maintains stability, progress and relevance. High membership numbers are a testament to that.
I am proud of Wendy McNeil and Renee Auer. I took a chance hiring the young straight-out-of-school Wendy, and the brash, confident Renee. Both have exceeded expectations and are responsible in large measure for the association’s growth over the years. I can’t say enough about these amazing superstars.
There’s much more to celebrate about GVHBA/HAVAN, but I’ve run out of space to express what’s on my mind. Carolyn likes to say when I open the fridge door and the light comes on, I break into a speech.
Anyway, that’s it for me. Congratulations on 50 wonderful years of serving the residential construction industry and consumers.
I’m sure you are as fiercely proud of the association as I am.
If you feel like re-connecting, please reach out to me at peter_simpson@hotmail.com
HAVAN continues to work with CHBA BC and CHBA to advocate for all levels of government to work together to address the challenges of the housing industry including zoning restrictions, density limits, and NIMBYism.
Looking to stay up-to-date on Metro Vancouver’s residential housing industry? Sign up for Wendy’s weekly Monday Morning Briefing and other HAVAN emails here.
QUICK BITES …
It would appear this is the season of everyone sitting on the sidelines, waiting for policies to play out, so projects can pencil out, to enable buyers to come back out.
- Following on last week’s MMB sharing the Wesgroup Properties Housing Crisis 101 video highlighting challenges in bringing housing to market, an article from Storeys points out the more housing programs being introduced by government, the less housing is being built, noting in addition to government intitiatives, we need lower construction costs, lower development roadblocks and taxes, and cheaper financing to bring housing to market.
- Dan Fumano reporting for the Vancouver Sun notes the Metro Vancouver area had a 15 per cent drop in the number of new housing starts in July of 2024 compared with the same month a year earlier, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation figures released last week.
- Brad Jones, senior vice-president of development for Wesgroup Properties, and an urban planner, is quoted in the Globe & Mail counting ‘.. 62 residential projects by other developers in Metro Vancouver that are in financial distress – and more than 10,000 housing units that won’t get built as a result. As of March 31, there were 14,600 units in Vancouver proper that had been rezoned or received development permits but had not started construction, ‘ and you guessed it, due to high construction and material costs, an increasingly demanding building code and mounting fees and regulatory policies coming from all levels of government.
- Kevin Lee, CHBA CEO, is quoted in this Storeys article pointing to required policy change ‘If buyers can’t get better access to mortgages, and municipalities don’t lower development taxes and address the barriers to home building, the chronic undersupply of homes will only get worse in many areas of the country, which will drive up house prices again..’
- New changes to improve crane safety will require employers to submit a Notice of Project to WorkSafe at least two weeks prior to certain tower crane activities. The new regulation goes into effect October 1st.
- Registration is now open for CHBA BC’s Conference: Building the Future: Innovation and Sustainability in Homebuilding. Schedule on October 2-3, 2024, in Whistler, featuring guest speaker Paul “Biznasty” Bissonnette, moderated by Bob “The Moj” Marjanovich , highlights of the conference include:
-
- Artificial Intelligence for Homebuilders
- Designer Insight on Construction
- Digital Innovation and Prefabrication
- BC Energy Step Code
- Housing Panel with Industry Experts
- A Celebration of Life for Ron Rapp is scheduled for Tuesday, September 10th from 3pm to 6pm at the Vancouver Rowing Club. The program is scheduled to commence at 3:45pm, and will include an open mic for those who wish to share a memory . Canapes will be served. Cash bar. Ample parking is available in the parking lot located within Stanley Park, (directly across from the venue). Please share this notice with those who knew Ron, as we look to gather together to toast a great leader, and friend.
