Homes For Living (HFL) and other ‘YIMBY’-oriented groups’ Lobbying Letter to Premier Eby and Housing Minister Kahlon, Mirrors the UDI’s lobbying efforts, raising important questions about the relationship between the UDI and HFL, as they both press the Province for a practically identical development agenda, while simultaneously being treated as stakeholders by it.

Homes For Living (HFL) and other ‘YIMBY’-oriented groups’ Lobbying Letter to Premier Eby and Housing Minister Kahlon, Mirrors the UDI’s lobbying efforts, raising important questions about the relationship between the UDI and HFL, as they both press the Province for a practically identical development agenda, while simultaneously being treated as stakeholders by it.

The HFL letter was co-signed by a number of other ‘YIMBY’-oriented organizations. HFL and the other ‘YIMBY’-oriented organizations, called for a carrot and stick approach to municipalities that don’t meet housing targets, including proposed punishments for them. The UDI had previously lobbied Eby, and the Housing Ministry for exactly this type of approach.

Both Homes For Living, a Third Party Sponsor during the 2022 general local government election, and the UDI, a registered lobbying organization on the BC Lobbyists Registry were consulted as stakeholders and briefed by the NDP-led Provincial Government on the housing targets methodology for municipalities prior to the release of the targets.

The question of why a Third Party Sponsor that endorsed the majority of those elected to Saanich, Victoria and Oak Bay Councils last election, is now asking the Province to punish municipalities that don’t accord with its development agenda deserves close scrutiny and raises important questions.

Why is Homes For Living considered by the Province to be a stakeholder at all? Is this a Third Party Sponsor, a lobby organization, or both? Are Third Party Sponsor organizations a vehicle for potential undue influence on the electoral/democratic process that allows for special interests to overwhelm the political power and influence of individual voters?

By Sasha Izard
July 12, 2025

A May 2025 newsletter sent out by Homes For Living, mentioned that the organization had written in conjunction with other similar organizations, a May 3, 2025 letter sent to Premier Eby, Housing/Municipal Affairs Minister Kahlon and others. The letter was co-signed by a number of organizations.

Although the UDI was not a signee of the letter, was the UDI, one of the organizations that Homes For Living helped craft the letter with? The letter mirrors previous lobbying efforts made by the UDI to the Province right down to the terminology used including the so-called carrot and stick approach to municipalities.

Excerpt above from Homes For Living’s May 2025 newsletter.

The full lobbying letter can be read below in Appendix 1 to this article. Unlike the UDI, Homes For Living which lobbies the Province (although they state that these activities are not paid for) for essentially the same agenda – does not register lobbying activity on the BC Lobbyists Registry. This begs the question of whether such organizations are being used as proxy organizations for other lobbying organizations, that then as a result can avoid registering lobbying activity on the BC Lobbyists Registry; a potential major loophole open for massive potential abuse, that should in my opinion be closed. Is the UDI standing above a series of pressure groups lobbying for the same agenda? The UDI previously claimed to be the premier voice of development and real estate in the Province.

The UDI and Homes for Living have paralleled each other since the beginning of Homes For Living’s inception several years ago. Homes For Living member Leo Spalteholz, was on the Saanich Housing Strategy Task Force, together with a number of people with connections to the UDI over the years, either directly (e.g., Greg Gillespie a UDI Director at the time, and Mark Holland, a top ‘educator’ at the UDI), or indirectly e.g. by others who have worked for or still work for UDI member companies, as mentioned in other CRD Watch articles.

As revealed through a Freedom of Information response from the Ministry of Housing, both Homes for Living and the UDI, as well as other organizations with a similar agenda, including other lobbying organizations, were consulted stakeholders by the BC NDP-led Province on the Housing Targets that the Province would set upon municipalities, something the UDI had lobbied the Province extensively for many years to create.

17. Leo Spalteholz (Homes for Living) was one of the stakeholders listed along with Greg Gillespie (UDI) 14., Anne McMullin (UDI) 12. and Cassandra Smith (UDI)

Both Spalteholz (HFL) and Greg Gillespie (UDI) served on Saanich’s former Housing Strategy Task Force together, which advanced many of the same policies e.g. Missing Middle that the UDI was lobbying for. This type of policy was forced across the Province through Bill 44 (2023).

The second part of the page in the FOI response was as follows (below). Note Urban Matters is a subsidiary of Urban Systems, and should be recognized as Urban Systems, the UDI member company that received a virtual monopoly on making Housing Needs Reports that netted the organization 10s of thousands of dollars, as they dictated to municipalities how many housing units they would have to build by law through mandated OCP conformance for example to Regional Growth Strategies that they were a component of.

The page number at bottom right lists the FOI #. HSG stands for the Ministry of Housing. In my PDF viewer at present (this # is different with different zoom settings) this registers as p.423)

A BC Government webpage regarding advancing development in BC, including BC Bills 44 Bill 47, which pre-zoned much of the Province quoted HFL’s Spalteholz and other ‘stakeholders’:

“Leo Spalteholz, advocate, Homes for Living –

“Of the suite of reforms passed this fall, removing barriers to transit-oriented development has the potential to deliver the most new housing in the shortest timeframe in B.C. In a time of rising construction costs, de-risking approvals and reducing costs for housing is crucial to address the shortage of homes.””

BC Gov News

Archived version:

Regulations, policy manuals issued to help deliver more homes for people faster | BC Gov News

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““Saanich, Oak Bay and Victoria need about four times as much [housing built] over the next five years as the NDP targets,” said Robert Berry, a volunteer with Homes For Living.”” Developers and advocates weigh in on B.C.’s housing targets

Archived version dated to Jan 23, 2024:

B.C.’s new housing-related bills ‘transformational’ but changes will take time, advocate cautions | CBC News

B.C.’s new housing-related bills ‘transformational’ but changes will take time, advocate cautions | CBC News Archived version March 16, 2025

Excerpt from article above:

“As the B.C. government has introduced a new set of bills in an attempt to increase housing supply amid an affordability crisis, one housing advocate cautions the changes will take time.

“We do have to keep in mind that these are long-term fixes,” said Leo Spalteholz with the housing advocacy group Homes for Living, describing the changes as a “transformational” shift in housing policy.

“I think we’ll see good positive results on affordability in about five years.”

After cracking down on short-term rentals, B.C. introduced legislation that takes aim at single-family zoning, reforms the way municipalities collect fees from developers, and sets minimum requirements for building heights and densities that municipalities must allow.

“All of it is co-ordinated and it works well together,” said B.C. Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon on Nov. 8.”

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In 2022, as so-called missing middle was being advanced as the overwhelming election issue during the election thanks to the media adopting the industry narrative, and in 2023 when the NDP rammed their radical deregulation of urban planning through the Legislature with the housing bills that forced this across the Province, eliminating vast amounts of public hearings, upzoning most of the Province and mandating lobbied-for housing targets – the government in this process were achieving/forcing what the development lobby had asked them to do.

During the time and after, the media looked to Homes For Living members, notably Spalteholz and Berry to fill in any gaps in the narrative, or even to make the NDP look moderate during the process.

In the corporate media, these were referred to as housing experts. No mention of course that Spalteholz/HFL were actually stakeholders consulted by the government along with various lobbying groups. Also no mention (except when it was eventually revealed on CFAX) that Berry worked for Quadreal, a government investment subsidiary (e.g. investing government pension fund money) that had 10s of billions of dollars invested in real estate, that stood to increase its portfolio significantly by foisting unaffordable so-called ‘missing middle’ housing that would be devastating to urban ecology when advanced, and without infrastructure considerations having been taken into account for it by the government. Quadreal also stood to gain significantly from increases in the housing stock.

Quadreal employees played a common role in the meeting between the government, the UDI, and HAVAN, quite easily the most powerful lobby groups for corporate real estate and development interests in the Province.

Quadreal employees served on numerous UDI committees that met with government, something the UDI is now hiding:

Too much heat: The UDI pulls down its list of backroom committees that meet with the Government of British Columbia and Local Governments – CRD Watch Homepage

As the UDI Capital Region put it at the time (before its website was pulled down at the same time as the housing bills containing its lobbied-for content were being rammed through by the BC NDP:

“We are the public voice for Capital Region’s development industry, liaising with local governments and the media to promote balanced, well-planned and sustainable communities.”

Only, where was the balance, good planning and sustainability in all this radical deregulation?

UDI Capital Region – Your voice in the local development industry

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For a closely related articles see:

How an industry-spawned Vancouver-centric ‘YIMBY’ narrative has severely twisted B.C. NDP housing ideology and massive legislation changes (Bills 44, 46 and 47) | CityHallWatch: Tools to engage in Vancouver city decisions

How to Turn a Software Developer into a Housing Expert (How tech, real estate, and politics align to shape housing policies prioritizing profit over people). Reprinted from Spacing Vancouver | CityHallWatch: Tools to engage in Vancouver city decisions

How the Development and Real Estate Lobby Pressed Mandatory Housing Targets, Mass Upzoning, Captured Official Community Plans, and Made the Shutting Down of Public Hearings the Norm in British Columbia Under the NDP Government – CRD Watch Homepage

Freedom of Information reveals that the Province of B.C. was working to implement what the registered lobbying organization, the Urban Development Institute, had been pushing for. This culminated in the recent Housing Bills that override local government authority on zoning. – CRD Watch Homepage

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Question:

Since when is a third party election sponsor (See entry for “Homes For Living”) and political pressure group, considered a Stakeholder on Provincially mandated housing targets for local governments by the BC NDP-led Province of BC?

Excerpt from the letter to Kahlon crafted by HFL with other organizations:

“Solution: for Bill 43 to work, the province must reward action and penalize
procrastination. The best way to do this is through financial incentives and disincentives.

The province should be aggressive and unapologetic in diverting provincial funding from municipalities that fail to meet their housing targets and funnelling it to jurisdictions that meet or exceed their housing targets. Without significant financial carrots and sticks, the efficacy of Bill 43 will be low at best. The province needs to be serious in rewarding communities that step up and punishing those that do not.”

Bill 43 (2022) the “Housing Supply Act” Bill 43 – 2022: Housing Supply Act provided for Provincially mandated targets to municipalities.

The rhetoric in the two paragraphs quoted above, is the same rhetoric that came from the UDI several years earlier in 2022, a time when HFL was making its first appearance as an organization.

Compare UDI Lobbying material sent to David Eby in 2022:

“Enforcement: Carrots and Sticks
Without enforcement mechanisms, the targets will not be taken seriously by local governments so UDI recommends a wide range of incentives and penalties if local governments do not achieve their targets. With some of these measures in place, area planning discussions near transit stations will rapidly change from “whether or not there by density near the stations” to do we “how best deliver the growth we need near the stations.”

Below are various UDI slides as part of the carrot and stick approach presented to Eby the same day as the material from their letter to him above that mentioned enforcement carrots and sticks.

Sources on UDI lobbying material to Eby:

Freedom of Information reveals that the Province of B.C. was working to implement what the registered lobbying organization, the Urban Development Institute, had been pushing for. This culminated in the recent Housing Bills that override local government authority on zoning. – CRD Watch Homepage

Public release of UDI March 10, 2022 presentation slides, agenda, and lobbying letters to David Eby. – CRD Watch Homepage

Sam Holland (HFL member) was an early advocate for the proposed Quadra/McKenzie plan and its orientation around transit. The UDI lobbied the Province extensively for massive enforced development along rapid transit lines and the Province appears to have responded with Bill 47, and the implementation of Transit Oriented Development Areas, (TODs or TOAs) something the UDI had lobbied multiple levels of government on for many years.

Homes For Living pushes a development agenda, including the implementation of TOAs, and endorsed majorities of candidates that were elected in 2022 to Saanich, Victoria and Oak Bay Councils. In early 2023, a Chair of the UDI at the time was spotted looking for recruits on the Homes For Living online Discord channel to speak in favour of his company’s proposal at a public hearing in Saanich. (See further below)

Both the UDI and Homes For Living have been avid proponents of so-called missing middle housing, yet even the Chair of the UDI (in 2022) admitted on Facebook that year that its objective is not to deliver affordable housing:

Below are a number of screenshots from early 2023 of a former UDI Chair observed using Homes For Living’s online Discord channel to seek people who could speak in favour of the proposal of the company he works for, at the District of Saanich Public Hearing regarding proposed developments at Rainbow/SevenOaks near Swan Lake, the location of an important nature sanctuary for birds and other wildlife. The address of the office of the company he worked for was listed on the UDI’s entry on the BC Lobbyists Registry at the time.

With a number of these issues having emerged and others by various members of the public during the Public Hearing, the District of Saanich soon withdrew its paid membership in the lobbying organization, followed by a number of municipalities and the regional government, the CRD after. Saanich bails on membership in developers’ organization – Victoria Times Colonist

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Conclusion: Both Homes For Living and the UDI have operated in parallel and in tandem, lobbying various municipalities after HFL’s inception during the last Local Government Election, and both have lobbied the Province of BC afterward and been consulted on it as stakeholders for mandated Housing Targets for municipalities something the UDI had lobbied the Province for years to achieve. Their lobbying material is starkly similar. The same goes for a number of similar organizations across British Columbia. The Province’s housing plan Homes For People released after the election is eerily similar to the name Homes For Living.

The UDI registers lobbying activity on the BC Lobbyists Registry. HFL does not. Several months ago, an HFL member wrote activity on the CRD Watch Facebook page, which was screenshotted and will be reviewed in the future, outlining activities that in my view looks like lobbying of MLAs.

In the last local government election (2022), the majority of candidates elected to office for the District of Saanich, the City of Victoria, and the District of Oak Bay were endorsed by Homes For Living. (See Appendix 2. below)

Homes For Living is planning for a similar achievement in 2026.

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Appendix 1: Homes For Living Lobbying letter sent to Premier Eby, Housing/Municipal Affairs Minister Ravy Kahlon, etc.,

Housing_Action_Letter_to_Premier_Eby_amp_Minister_Kahlon_2025.05.03.pdf
(Accessed July 12, 2025)

Archived version: Wayback Machine

Appendix 2: Homes For Living’s endorsements for political candidates in Saanich, the City of Victoria and Oak Bay.

““Saanich, Oak Bay and Victoria need about four times as much [housing built] over the next five years as the NDP targets,” said Robert Berry, a volunteer with Homes For Living.”” Developers and advocates weigh in on B.C.’s housing targets

The following are screenshots from Homes For Living’s website showing their endorsements of candidates in the last general local government election of 2022:

City of Victoria:

Note: of HFL’s endorsed candidates for Victoria Council, 5 of them got elected forming a majority on its council. These 5 became notorious for typically voting together as a group. These included Mayor Marianne Alto, Dave Thompson, Jeremy Caradonna, Matt Dell, Susan Kim and Krista Loughton.

Source:

Victoria Candidate Rankings (Accessed: July 12, 2025)

Victoria Candidate Rankings Archived version from Jan, 2025

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District of Saanich:

Note: Of HFL’s endorsements for Saanich Council, 5 of them were elected in 2022 forming a majority on it. These included Dean Murdock as Mayor, Zac de Vries, Karen Harper, Colin Plant, Susan Brice, Teale Phelps Bondaroff as Councillors.

Saanich Candidate Rankings (Accessed: July 12, 2025)

Saanich Candidate Rankings (Archived version from Jan, 2025)

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Oak Bay:

Note: All of the HFL candidates for council shown above were elected to Oak Bay Council, thus forming a majority on it.

Source:

Oak Bay Candidate Rankings (Accessed July 12, 2025)

Oak Bay Candidate Rankings (Archived version from April 20, 2024)

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See also: Too much heat: The UDI pulls down its list of backroom committees that meet with the Government of British Columbia and Local Governments – CRD Watch Homepage

Index of Articles about Homes For Living – CRD Watch Homepage

Homes For Living – About Us

Archive.org snapshot from March 25 2025: Homes For Living – About Us

‘The province needs to step in’: Island housing advocates demand change – Tofino-Ucluelet Westerly News (Accessed: July 12, 2025)

Archived version: ‘The province needs to step in’: Island housing advocates demand change – Tofino-Ucluelet Westerly News

https://www.vicnews.com/news/the-demise-of-single-family-starter-homes-municipalities-have-to-have-their-hands-forced-114488 May 15, 2023 (Accessed: July 12, 2025)

Archived version from December 6, 2024: The demise of single-family starter homes: ‘Municipalities have to have their hands forced’ – Greater Victoria News

Developers and advocates weigh in on B.C.’s housing targets
By Brendan Strain

Published: September 27, 2023 at 9:25PM EDT

Developers and advocates weigh in on B.C.’s housing targets Archived version dated to July 12, 2025

Here’s How Unaffordable Victoria Really Is – Capital Daily (Mentions Spalteholz)

Here’s How Unaffordable Victoria Really Is – Capital Daily March 16, 2025 Archived version.

Analysis: BC housing at the mercy of inter-provincial migration | Canadian Mortgage Professional (Spalteholz mentioned)

Analysis: BC housing at the mercy of inter-provincial migration | Canadian Mortgage Professional Archived version Sept 7, 2024

Spalteholz mentioned: Vancouver and Victoria rents jump 20% in 6 months as thousands move to B.C. | CBC News

Archived version July 4, 2025: Vancouver and Victoria rents jump 20% in 6 months as thousands move to B.C. | CBC News

Saanich putting developments ‘through the wringer’ only adds to crisis: expert – Greater Victoria News Spalteholz mentioned.

Coming Victoria motion looks to reverse missing middle timeline delays – Greater Victoria News

“As the missing middle timeline changes almost by the week, Housing Minister David Eby on Monday said he was “heartbroken” to see the process “going off the rails.”

“It shouldn’t be that you can build a new single-family home with no oversight from city council, but if you want to build three townhomes or you want to put six units into your home, you have to go through a lengthy, multi-year process,” Eby said, alluding to the city’s current zoning.

The minister and Leo Spalteholz, a volunteer with Homes for Living, both say the missing middle program is a cautious approach, not a contentious one.”

https://globalnews.ca/news/8791358/census-data-bc-housing-market “Census shows apartment growth, but supply remains primary issue in B.C.: experts” mentions Spalteholz, Homes For Living.

Political opposition in B.C. tears down housing models – Greater Victoria News

“The measures and models behind have also enjoyed support from a range of voices in the housing sector, including Leo Spalteholz, an independent real estate analyst and volunteer at Homes for Living.

Spalteholz also addressed concerns about upzoning raising land values.

“If making zoning more permissive raises land value, that’s just proof that the zoning was too restrictive to start with,” he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.”

B.C.’s new housing-related bills ‘transformational’ but changes will take time, advocate cautions | CBC News

B.C.’s new housing-related bills ‘transformational’ but changes will take time, advocate cautions | CBC News Archived version March 16, 2025

Limited debate on transformative B.C. housing bills: critics – Victoria Times Colonist Robert Berry mentioned.

Restrictions crushing hopes for more multi-unit housing – Victoria Times Colonist Berry mentioned.

Archived version July 19, 2024: Limited debate on transformative B.C. housing bills: critics – Victoria Times Colonist

Excerpt from article above:

“As the B.C. government has introduced a new set of bills in an attempt to increase housing supply amid an affordability crisis, one housing advocate cautions the changes will take time.

“I think we’ll see good positive results on affordability in about five years.”

“All of it is co-ordinated and it works well together,” said B.C. Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon on Nov. 8.”

Do B.C.’s new housing targets keep pace with population growth? | Vancouver Sun

“The B.C. NDP took the “politically convenient route” of setting moderate housing targets that don’t go far enough in addressing the affordability crisis, said Robert Berry of the Victoria-based pro density group Homes for Living.”

Jack Knox: Endorsements can offer path to follow, or avoid – Victoria Times Colonist

“Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps has released a list of the city council candidates she’s supporting in the Oct. 15 vote.

It’s a rare move for a sitting mayor, but one that Helps, who isn’t running for re-election, felt free to make.

It was no accident that her list mirrored that of the Homes For Living group: Marianne Alto for mayor, and Dave Thompson, Jeremy Caradonna, Matt Dell, Tony Yacowar, Susan Kim, Khadoni Pitt Chambers, Anna King and Krista Loughton for council. “I thought about all the ways I could approach this question, and kept coming back to housing,” Helps blogged.”

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Note: After leaving office, Helps was hired as the Housing Solutions Advisor to NDP Premier David Eby.

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Index of documentation covering the UVic Real Estate Club and development industry influence over it. – CRD Watch Homepage

Additional material for reference:

LETTER: Saanich should rethink elimination of open forum – Saanich News

“After I had pointed this out at open forum that evening; during public input at the 27:33 time point, a member of the registered third-party electoral organization Homes For Living, called in and spoke in favour of eliminating open forum. This was the first and only member of the public on record to have spoken in favour of eliminating open forum, and well after council had already voted to eliminate it.”

“On Oct. 28, the majority of council voted to remove the statement of address requirement during public input, thus allowing non-residents (including lobbyists) to go undetected during input.”

Saanich wants B.C. to look beyond U.S. in quest for affordable elevators – Peninsula News Review

Excerpt from above article: “Sam Holland, a director of Homes for Living, a local housing advocacy group, echoed Bonaroff’s [sic] statement.”

Astroturfing – Wikipedia

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