Brandon DonnellyCanada must become a global superpower
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency. Indeed, I'm hard pressed to remember a time, at least in my lifetime, when patriotism and nationalism has united so much of Canada. According to a recent survey by Angus Reid, the percentage of Canadians expressing a "deep emotional attachment" to the country jumped from 49% in December 2024 to 59% in February 2025. And as further evidence of...
Brandon DonnellyThe bank robbery capital of the world
Between 1985 and 1995, Los Angeles' retail bank branches were robbed some 17,106 times. In 1992, which was the the city's worst year for robberies, the number was 2,641. This roughly translated into about one bank robbery every 45 minutes of each banking day. All of this, according to this CrimeReads piece by Peter Houlahan, gave Los Angeles the dubious title of "The Bank Robbery Capital of the World" during this time period. So what caused this? Well according to Peter it was facil...
Brandon DonnellyThe story behind those pixelated video game mosaics in Paris
If you've ever been to Paris, you've probably noticed the small pixelated art pieces that are scattered all around the city on buildings and various other hard surfaces. Or maybe you haven't seen or noticed them in Paris, but you've seen similarly pixelated mosaics in one of the other 79 cities around the world where they can be found. Or maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about right now. Huh? Here's an example from Bolivia (click here if you can't see...
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Brandon DonnellyCanada must become a global superpower
The silver lining to the US starting a trade war with Canada and regularly threatening annexation is that it has forced this country out of complacency. Indeed, I'm hard pressed to remember a time, at least in my lifetime, when patriotism and nationalism has united so much of Canada. According to a recent survey by Angus Reid, the percentage of Canadians expressing a "deep emotional attachment" to the country jumped from 49% in December 2024 to 59% in February 2025. And as further evidence of...
Brandon DonnellyThe bank robbery capital of the world
Between 1985 and 1995, Los Angeles' retail bank branches were robbed some 17,106 times. In 1992, which was the the city's worst year for robberies, the number was 2,641. This roughly translated into about one bank robbery every 45 minutes of each banking day. All of this, according to this CrimeReads piece by Peter Houlahan, gave Los Angeles the dubious title of "The Bank Robbery Capital of the World" during this time period. So what caused this? Well according to Peter it was facil...
Brandon DonnellyThe story behind those pixelated video game mosaics in Paris
If you've ever been to Paris, you've probably noticed the small pixelated art pieces that are scattered all around the city on buildings and various other hard surfaces. Or maybe you haven't seen or noticed them in Paris, but you've seen similarly pixelated mosaics in one of the other 79 cities around the world where they can be found. Or maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about right now. Huh? Here's an example from Bolivia (click here if you can't see...
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Brandon DonnellyDevelopment industry reactions to Carney's housing platform
Support Brandon Donnelly
Brandon DonnellyDevelopment industry reactions to Carney's housing platform
Share Dialog
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I am deeply skeptical of our federal government getting into the real estate development business, and I think a lot of the industry shares this sentiment. However, there are aspects of Carney's housing platform that do make sense. Here's a recent article by Frances Bula in Storeys citing industry reactions:
Do not create a federal housing developer, empower the private sector to do its thing
Multi-Unit Residential Building (MURB) program (which previously existed from 1974 to 1981 and spurred a lot of new rental housing)
Capital gain deferral on funds immediately re-invested back into housing (something akin to the 1031 exchange in the US)
Remove the federal ban on foreign investors
Dramatically reduce / eliminate municipal development charges (though, there's the important question of how exactly this gets done)
Expand the no HST on new housing (Carney's current plan is to only eliminate it for new homebuyers and for new homes under $1 million)
Tax credits for investors in affordable housing (This is not currently proposed, but I like it too. The US has something called Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, which HUD calls their most important resource for creating new affordable housing.)
Create policies that will outlast the current government, and don't make them convoluted
There are, of course, many other things that need to be done to improve the delivery of new housing in this country, including a lot at the micro level. On this blog, we regularly talk about everything from single-stair buildings to streamlining environmental permissions.
If you have anything else you'd like to add, please leave a comment below. Let's keep the pressure on.
I am deeply skeptical of our federal government getting into the real estate development business, and I think a lot of the industry shares this sentiment. However, there are aspects of Carney's housing platform that do make sense. Here's a recent article by Frances Bula in Storeys citing industry reactions:
Do not create a federal housing developer, empower the private sector to do its thing
Multi-Unit Residential Building (MURB) program (which previously existed from 1974 to 1981 and spurred a lot of new rental housing)
Capital gain deferral on funds immediately re-invested back into housing (something akin to the 1031 exchange in the US)
Remove the federal ban on foreign investors
Dramatically reduce / eliminate municipal development charges (though, there's the important question of how exactly this gets done)
Expand the no HST on new housing (Carney's current plan is to only eliminate it for new homebuyers and for new homes under $1 million)
Tax credits for investors in affordable housing (This is not currently proposed, but I like it too. The US has something called Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, which HUD calls their most important resource for creating new affordable housing.)
Create policies that will outlast the current government, and don't make them convoluted
There are, of course, many other things that need to be done to improve the delivery of new housing in this country, including a lot at the micro level. On this blog, we regularly talk about everything from single-stair buildings to streamlining environmental permissions.
If you have anything else you'd like to add, please leave a comment below. Let's keep the pressure on.
2 comments
The cultural references make the article relatable.
Great post Brandon, I couldn't have said it better.