Sauder real estate seminar to tackle housing affordability

In recent weeks, newspapers across the country have led with stories about Canadian housing markets cooling off.

On June 20, the UBC Centre for Urban Economics and Real Estate at the Sauder School of Business and Urban Land Institute British Columbia are weighing-in on the real estate debate with the forum “Housing Affordability, Can We Really Do Anything? Should We?,” at the Rosewood Hotel Georgia.

“B.C. and Vancouver spend a lot of resources trying to solve the problem of making it affordable for everyone to buy a decent home in or near Vancouver. We hope this debate will help reorient the discussion in a positive way,” said Assistant Professor Thomas Davidoff, Strategy and Business Economics Division at the Sauder School of Business, who will take part in the discussion.

The timely seminar will address what is actually meant by “housing affordability,” offering different perspectives on what should and shouldn’t be done about it, such as the construction of affordable units, increasing zoning density, and using tax policy.

The three speakers provide a diverse range of expertise. Assist. Prof. Davidoff’s work studying real estate development centers on urban planning that works from a practical and sustainable perspective.

“I personally hope I can convince the audience that a provincial program of increased property taxes and reduced income taxes is the best solution,” says Assist. Prof. Davidoff

He will be joined by Raphael Bostic, Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Mark Guslits, architect and principal at Mark Guslits & Associates Inc.

 Mr. Bostic has been closely involved in how the U.S. government has dealt with the mortgage crisis, as well as U.S. housing policy for the last few years.

 The discussion will be moderated by real estate expert, Sauder Associate Professor Tsur Somerville, Director at UBC Centre for Urban Economics and Real Estate.