Policy Pitch

The Institute of Public Administration Canada (IPAC) is an organization which promotes networking and exchange of ideas among public servants working in federal, provincial, municipal, and Indigenous governments. An IPAC event, which promotes both networking and ideas-exchange, is the Policy Pitch, where presenters (“pitchers”) present a policy idea with the best options being determined by a panel of judges and by the audience.

After a pause brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, IPAC-Victoria held its sixth Policy Pitch event on June 27 at the Hotel Grand Pacific. The theme this year was Housing and Homelessness. These are both pressing issues in British Columbia and here in the Greater Victoria area, where many new homebuyers face steep purchase costs and mortgages that make them “house poor.” It is also a challenge for people experiencing homelessness, who often face a myriad of problems that contribute to their homelessness.

The Policy Pitch event offered a valuable opportunity for public servants, students, and members of the community to network, and to spark a conversation on the issue of housing and homelessness in British Columbia, with discussion of a wide range of options, including ideas that could be considered “out-of-the-box.”

The Policy Pitch event was sponsored by MNP and Aryze Developments and. It was hosted by Bill Reid, a partner at MNP. Three IPAC board members spoke on behalf of IPAC-Victoria: Malcolm Gaston, a former Assistant Auditor General, Clint Abbott of MNP, and Hassan Arif who is with the Government of British Columbia.

The Event:

Overall, there were five pitches presented by five individuals. These pitches were a summary of a specific issue related to housing and/or homelessness faced by governments at the local, provincial and/or federal level. The pitches included a recommended option to deal with the challenge of housing.

The pitchers came from a variety of backgrounds, including government, the non-profit sector, and academia.

The pitchers were evaluated by a panel of four judges, experts in the field of housing, who included:

• Dr. Jeff Masuda, professor and acting director of the School of Public Health and Social Policy at the University of Victoria;

• Julian Daly, Chief Executive Officer at Our Place Society;

• Melanie Hope, Executive Director of the Homelessness and Supportive Housing Branch at the BC Ministry of Housing;

• Candace Witkowskyj, Executive Director of the Local Government Management Association of British Columbia.

The judges selected the first and second prize winners, while the audience voted on the people’s choice award winner.

The Pitches:

The first to present was Angus Argyle, an employee of the BC Public Service. His proposal was for home donations, where people donate their homes to a local non-profit housing provider upon passing away. 

In this proposal, BC Housing would oversee a home donation program to screen potential donors and their homes and match them with non-profit housing providers. Such a program would also facilitate funding for renovations with help from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

The second presenter was Leif Douglass who is pursuing a Masters of Public Administration at the University of Victoria. His presentation focussed on incentivizing Community Land Trusts, through a capital gains tax exemption, which are locally managed non-profits that acquire and manage land to preserve housing affordability. Community Land Trusts can be implemented unilaterally by the federal government. They empower communities to address local housing needs, and they complement existing housing strategies.

The third presenter was Rodrigo Feracini, who is Senior Director for Connected Services at the BC Ministry of Citizens Services. His presentation was on navigating the intergovernmental dynamics around housing by strengthening federal-provincial-municipal partnerships, increasing federal funding, and enhancing support for non-profit and Indigenous housing projects.

The fourth presenter was Sally Reid, a public servant, youtuber, and activist. Her proposal was to use docked cruise ships as a short-term housing measure, citing the low cost per person ($17,974) of purchasing a cruise ship for this purpose. While this measure would affect tourism, it is not unprecedented to favour housing over tourism given the restriction put on AirBnBs.

The final presenter was Susan Martin of Neighbourhood Solidarity with Unhoused Neighbours (NSUN). Her proposal, “Housing in a Hurry”, involved refurbishing sheds as a quick and affordable solution, placing three to five of these units onto a property which would also contain bathroom and shower facilities.

Conclusion – An Essential Conversation:

The winners of this event were as follows: First Prize (by the judges) and people’s choice went to Lief Douglass, while the second place judge’s award went to Angus Argyle.

However, all the presentations sparked important discussions (the judges were able to ask follow-up questions after the presentations) about the pressing concerns around housing and homelessness and the need for innovative solutions to this challenge. 

To deal with the challenges of housing and homelessness in British Columbia, individuals from different sectors (the public sector, the private sector, and non-profit) need to come together, have a dialogue, and be open to proposing innovative (and out of the box) ideas. The general public needs to be involved in this conversation as well, providing proposals and feedback.

Housing is a human right. The challenges with  realizing this right involve all levels of government and affect everyone. 

Innovative solutions are needed, in particular with the numbers of people experiencing homelessness growing every year, skyrocketing rental prices, and  “house poverty” a real challenge for many new homebuyers facing mortgage payments and home maintenance costs. Community conversations such as this event can bring forward diverse perspectives, ideas and solutions. These need to be discussed and seriously considered.

“Business as usual” won’t work. Housing has become cost-prohibitive for large sections of our population.

This forum was an important means to spark a conversation and bring people together on an issue that affects us all.