How a Metropolitan Mindset Can Inspire Collaborative Solutions to the Housing Crisis
December 4, 2024
BY Maria Michouris
On November 25, BCLI staff attended Metropolitan Mindset: How Regional Governments Can Help Solve the Housing Crisis, at the Peter A. Allard School of Law. The event was hosted by the Housing Research Collaborative and featured a panel conversation with:
- Don Iveson, Chair of the Board of Directors, CMHC;
- Gabriel Eidelman, Director, Urban Policy Lab, University of Toronto;
- Alexandra Flynn, Director, Housing Research Collaborative, University of British Columbia and Board Member, BCLI;
- Michael Epp, Director of Housing Planning and Development, Metro Vancouver;
- Rebecca Bligh, President, Federation of Canadian Municipalities and City Councillor, City of Vancouver; and
- Mary Pointe, Director, Indigenous Relations, YVR
The Metropolitan Mindset
The event explored Don Iveson’s and Gabriel Eidelman’s publication “Toward the Metropolitan Mindset: A Playbook for Stronger Cities in Canada”. The metropolitan mindset asks us to understand, plan and govern cities as metropolitan systems, rather than municipalities. Iveson and Eidelman argue that this shift in thinking can help our cities move from an environment of competition to one of cooperation. This is because rather than competing for scarce resources, municipalities can come together to collectively solve problems. Like transport networks and labour markets, housing ignores municipal boundaries, so why would municipalities work separately to solve the crisis?
The metropolitan mindset relies on the idea of a metropolitan area, or what can also be referred to as a city-region. For example, Vancouver is a municipality, and Metro Vancouver (which is a federation of 21 municipalities, one electoral area, and one treaty First Nation) is a metropolitan area. Another example is Toronto, which is a municipality, and the Greater Toronto Area, which is a metropolitan area. The metropolitan mindset recognizes that large cities don’t function in isolation, but rather function as a part of a larger city-region. Although goods, services, and people flow between our connected metropolitan areas, political decision-making is hyper-localized and disconnected. The metropolitan mindset challenges this hyper-local decision-making by encouraging metropolitan areas to come together to address issues, such as the housing crisis.
Thinking Regionally
Dr. Alexandra Flynn wrote a response paper which engages with Iveson and Eidelman’s report by considering the prospects for cultivating a metropolitan mindset in Metro Vancouver. Flynn argues that using a metropolitan mindset—or what she calls thinking regionally—can help us reimagine the housing crisis in order to find better solutions. One way thinking regionally helps us is by offering a better way to understand the nuances of current housing needs.
Flynn suggested that thinking regionally can help us navigate the housing crisis because it lets us think creatively and encourages different levels of government to stop pointing fingers at each other. Addressing the housing crisis can be confusing because it’s unclear what level of government is responsible. The constitution lays out the roles, responsibilities, and powers of the federal and provincial governments. However, when the constitution was written, it didn’t address the contemporary issues we face today—such as housing. Thinking regionally can help us tackle the housing crisis because a regional government’s role isn’t laid out in the constitution. While the federal and provincial governments are limited to the roles and responsibilities the constitution sets out, the regional government can approach the housing crisis creatively.
Panel Discussion
During the event, the panel discussed hyper-local mindsets (commonly referred to as NIMBY—“not in my backyard”), as well as the disadvantages and advantages of thinking regionally.
The panel considered how thinking regionally could address hyper-local mindsets by leaning into partnerships rather than reinforcing an us-versus-them mentality. Partnerships can help fill the gaps in the housing crisis, panelists pointing to MST developments as something Metro Vancouver can learn from.
However, a disadvantage to thinking regionally is that it’s an abstract concept that can be difficult to understand and can feel disruptive to our communities. Further, leaving room for some policy competition can be helpful to guard against a one-size-fits-all approach by a senior level of government.
Other panelists found that regardless of the disadvantages, it’s ultimately better to think regionally so we can foster thoughtful growth in our cities. There are significant disparities in access to resources between municipalities. So, rather than competing for resources, municipalities could benefit from working together. Mary Pointe noted that moving forward together with First Nations and Indigenous peoples means capacity, readiness, and a bridging plan to support one another with open minds.
BCLI Projects Addressing Housing
BCLI is committed to engaging in the issue of housing through specific law reform projects. Currently, BCLI is in the final stages of the Renovate the Public Hearing Project, which explores public engagement in housing development. Further, in the new year, BCLI plans to launch a new property law reform project which will look at the need and potential for alternative housing models starting with leaseholds.
