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Connecting transportation and livable, resilient communities

Transit is essential to connect people and communities. This year, we centered the experiences of multilingual equity-deserving riders and insights from transit experts to strengthen our region’s transit system.  

We:

• Hosted 10 multilingual conversations with equity-deserving riders  

• Convened a transit dialogue at Vancouver Climate Day 2025

• Co-designed , an event hosted by  

We published: 

• Travelling across Canada by bus, an overview of intercity bus routes taken by YouTuber Miles Taylor as he travelled across the country exclusively by bus 

• The reality and opportunity of intercity transit in B.C., a rider’s perspective on B.C. transit systems

• How does Vancouver’s transit compare, expert insights from Christof Spieler on how our region’s transit stacks up against other major cities and where we can improve 

• Rapid, frequent, dependable and safe, conversations with equity-deserving riders on their experiences and hopes for transit

• A quick guide to Metro Vancouver’s transit system, a look at how our regions’ transit system operates 

Value-added housing

We took a deep dive into BC Builds to better understand the program, create practical resources and convene groups working to accelerate housing development timelines. 

We:

• Celebrated BC Builds’ first anniversary with the launch of BC Builds: A case study 

• Co-hosted two workshops with BC Builds to equip local governments and First Nations with tools to accelerate housing projects in their communities

• Joined an episode of BC Housing’s   

• Presented BC Builds case study insights to elected officials across B.C.

We published:  

• BC Builds: A case study, a comprehensive look at programs origination and first year of implementation 

• BC Builds: A policy brief, key strategies for implementation and replication, summarized from the case study 

• A series featuring development experts from across the province sharing lessons learned from BC Builds projects

Building housing on faith-based lands

Faith-based lands offer an important opportunity to address Canada’s housing shortfall. This year, we worked with faith-based groups to develop a framework for those exploring housing development. 

We: 

• Hosted two workshops to gather input for our Pre-feasibility framework

• Presented our Pre-feasibility framework to CMHC’s Expert Community on Housing community of practice and at the Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association conference

• Met with City of Vancouver councillors to discuss this work and how it can inform cities collaborating with faith-based groups on affordable housing

We published: 

• Pre-feasibility framework for facilitators working with faith-based organizations, to guide groups through early housing development decisions 

Housing that connects us

We joined and ’ continuing work supporting local governments in enabling low carbon, climate resilient and socially connected multi-unit homes.  

We:

• Co-hosted a cross-sectoral workshop exploring nature-based solutions as social infrastructure in new builds and retrofits

• Co-hosted , national training workshops for planners across Canada

• Presented to UBC Urban Forestry and Wellbeing undergraduate students 

• Showcased our work at Housing Central with Hey Neighbour Collective

We published:

• Building Social Connections: Case studies to inspire socially connected multi-unit housing that supports connection, wellbeing and inclusion 

• From green spaces to connected places, workshop insights and illustrations for more connected, resilient multi-unit homes

• An infographic of common nature-based solutions for multi-unit residential buildings in B.C. 

• A backgrounder on the potential of nature-based solutions, key barriers and potential solutions

Low carbon buildings

Low carbon, climate-resilient buildings are essential for thriving communities. This year, we continued work to address insurance and financing barriers for mass timber construction and partnered with on innovative financing solutions. 

We:

• Shared our mass timber resources with 375 planners and 325 elected officials from 40 local B.C. governments

• Hosted a roundtable with building industry leaders to identify barriers and solutions to reduce mass timber insurance costs and risks 

• Connected BCIT School of Construction and the Environment and Structural Timber Association (United Kingdom) for a knowledge-sharing session

• Moderated a panel on local leadership in urban housing

• Co-hosted two workshops in Vancouver and Toronto with Affine Climate Solutions on financing low-carbon, resilient buildings and real estate 

We published:

• Advancing mass timber: Risk mitigation and insurance strategies for a thriving sector, a pathways guide for the sector to reduce barriers for scaling mass timber construction 

• Financing solutions to accelerate low-carbon, resilient construction workshop primer and report back with Affine Climate Solutions

• on safeguarding home insurance by reducing exposure and vulnerability to extreme weather

Community connections

Alongside our core programming, we collaborated with partners whose work complements ours and helps build cross-sector connections on challenges cities face. 

We:

• Co-hosted a workshop with on lessons from local governments using resident assemblies 

• Engaged with elected officials at the Lower Mainland Local Government Association conference 

• Facilitated at dialogues hosted by 51ÉçÇøºÚÁÏCentre for Dialogue, 51ÉçÇøºÚÁÏClimate Innovation and Pembina Institute