MESSAGE FROM YOUR 2025-2025 CHAIR OF THE BOARD

Welcome to November! Whilst it has been a challenging year for many of us, I am looking forward to serving you all in the role of Chair at HAVAN and trying to bring some successes.

Whilst economic conditions continue to be a number one concern, many things have still not changed since I wrote a piece in August for the Monday Briefing. I’m going to take this opportunity to repeat some of these items in the hope that they may reach additional readership that may be able to bring about the changes we need.

Before doing so I would like to acknowledge Alisa Aragon-Lloyd and all the efforts and time that she has dedicated to being Chair for this past year. I think she’s managed to attend almost every event hosted by HAVAN, which is an incredible feat and something I’m not sure I will be able to match. Thank you for all your efforts and dedication to HAVAN. I would also like to welcome our new board members, Barb Silverthorn of Capture Energy, Bertine Stelzer from BC Hydro, Meredith Yuen of Marino General Contracting and Rick Mann of Isle of Man Property Group. I look forward to working with all of you as the year progresses.

To quickly recapture the Monday Briefing I wrote in August, here’s some notes on some things that we really need to address. Firstly, communicate cost-effective affordability in this region. It’s not just material costs or municipal fees. The time it takes to get projects approved, policy changes and market conditions all have an impact on what we produce, and how we produce it from a financial standpoint.

I cannot say this enough, but the industry has slowed down. I do not understand where CMHC gets some of its figures from as everybody I speak with is producing less homes right now – it doesn’t matter whether you’re a multi-family builder, single-family builder, custom home builder or renovator. Everybody is reporting lower and slower order books. The consequence of everything slowing down now means there is a knock-on impact through the next few years. The industry does not simply just restart the next day like a computer does – it will take time to spool back up, recruit additional people, and secure additional resources.

I’ve recently been interviewed by CBC and CTV on the challenges facing the multi-family sector and would like to put forth the concept of a bail out (best delivered in government fee reductions). We have lost something in the region of 20,000 jobs in our industry in just BC alone, and across the nation, we are looking at potentially 200,000 jobs at risk. If this was the auto sector, there’ll be billions of dollars in bail-out fees being made available to the industry. I do not understand why government does not view the sector that provides the largest single proportion of GDP to many provinces as a greater importance than the auto sector. Shelter is a basic need. We need support for the housing sector if we’re going to achieve the federal government and provincial government assessment of future housing needs.

The industry and government need to communicate better, put aside their odds and sit at one table to figure out solutions. It does not matter whether we have a dysfunctional Metro Vancouver regional district or are wrestling with provincial taxes and fees, or municipal taxes and fees, everybody is wrestling with their own piece in isolation of others, and we cannot fix the problem using the same mentalities that created it.

Our industry image continues to hinder our ability to bring about change as the perception by many as of wealthy individuals building some homes and driving high price vehicles, we all know this is not the case and it is time for everyone to speak up for the general public to understand what our challenges are and who we really are.

As we enter this next year at HAVAN, I look forward to working with and meeting many of you. I can be reached via the HAVAN team if you wish to discuss anything with me.