City Councillors Hammond and Gardiner put forward Motion to “Terminate Victoria’s membership in the Urban Development Institute” “effective immediately”.

City Councillors Hammond and Gardiner put forward Motion to “Terminate Victoria’s membership in the Urban Development Institute” “effective immediately”.

The Motion will be deliberated on at the Thursday Sept 4, 2025 Committee of the Whole.

Eyes are on what the noted “5” councillors will do that were backed by the purpose-built development-oriented pressure group Homes For Living during the 2022 election.

By Sasha Izard
Aug 29, 2025

The following agenda item has been posted today on the City of Victoria’s agenda for the Committee of the Whole meeting that will start at 2PM on Thursday Sept 4, 2025:

“H.4 Council Member Motion: Terminate Victoria’s membership in the Urban Development Institute

A Council Member Motion regarding terminating Victoria’s membership in the Urban Development Institute, a lobbying organization for the development industry. “

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The Council Member Motion reads:

Subject: Terminate Victoria’s membership in the Urban Development Institute

BACKGROUND

The Urban Development Institute (UDI) is a lobbyist organization for the development industry in British Columbia. It is listed as a lobbying organization with the Government of B.C. Office of the Registrar of Lobbyists. As found in the UDI’s latest entry pages of the Registry of Lobbyists, the UDI’s status is listed as “currently active” and was last updated on July 1, 2025.

Its member organizations, or corporate members, count in the hundreds. The list of these entities was publicly available on their websites until the UDI removed this information from the public in November 2023.

The City of Victoria has been a paid member of the UDI since 2013 when the City took out its first corporate membership in the organization. However, the City was also paying for staff memberships in the UDI starting on March 1, 2008. The most recent corporate membership dues in the UDI cost City taxpayers $1,575.

In 2025, councillors of the District of Sooke voted unanimously to discontinue the
District’s membership with the UDI. This followed the councils of Saanich and View Royal which also voted unanimously in 2023 to discontinue their organization’s UDI memberships. The staff of the Municipality of Oak Bay and the senior staff of the Capital Regional District (CRD) discontinued their organization’s UDI memberships in 2024. It is worth noting that the CRD had been a
member of the UDI for 23 years.

The City of Victoria, regardless of budget savings and considerations, should not be paying to have membership in an organization with the purpose of enriching their membership. (Before the UDI Capital Region’s website was taken down in November 2023, their opening mission statement read, “Join the team of industry leaders and professionals who are influencing the issues that affect your
bottom line.”)

City staff and councillors should be looking for all the information, from all stakeholders, to make the best decisions when it comes to housing policy for Victorians. However, we should not be paying any organization to lobby us.

RECOMMENDATION:

That Council direct staff to terminate, effective immediately, the City’s membership in the Urban Development Institute.