The Usual Suspects: Big Business including aligned groups such as The Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, the UDI lobby, and YIMBY pressure group Homes For Living, are pushing Bill M216 in British Columbia, which would override municipal sovereignty and the public voice, if passed.
By Sasha Izard
Nov 16, 2025
What a surprise!
Anyone who has been closely following the advance of housing legislation that overrides local government autonomy and lessens the public voice will be familiar with the UDI, and Homes For Living, organizations, which actively champion such policies.
It is no surprise then that these orgs are pushing the proposed Bill M216.
In a recent article, I revealed how a dubious US-based mass movement named Strong Towns that appear to be a well-funded lobby that advances YIMBY-oriented development interests, has been the most detailed non-governmental proponent of BC Bill M216.
Stop Bill M216 Before Local Democracy is Dismantled on Nov 17, 2025 – CRD Watch Homepage
Anderson himself wrote a Facebook post thanking Strong Towns on Nov 7, 2025, less than a week after I published the article:
I also posited in the article written on Nov 11, 2025 that in addition to Strong Towns, the UDI’s influence is likely, on Bill M216.
Now there is clear evidence that the UDI supports and is pushing Bill M216:
“BRITISH COLUMBIA – Greater Vancouver Board of Trade (GVBOT) and the Urban Development Institute (UDI) have issued a joint statement indicating their support of Bill M 216  – the Professional Reliance Act.“
– Quotation from: GVBOT AND UDI SUPPORTING PROFESSIONAL RELIANCE ACT | Business Examiner
Archived version: GVBOT AND UDI SUPPORTING PROFESSIONAL RELIANCE ACT | Business Examiner
More information about the UDI’s position on M216 can be read in the article.
UDI Lobbying Letter posted on MLA George Anderson’s Twitter on Nov 14, 2025
Rick Ilich is the Chair of the UDI in British Columbia.
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Not only is the UDI, Strong Towns, and the GVBOT pushing M216, but so is the YIMBY-oriented political pressure group Homes For Living, on Southern Vancouver Island.
Déjà vu of course:
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. – CRD Watch Homepage
Homes For Living supported a majority of those elected to Saanich, Victoria, and Oak Bay Councils during the last election.
Over 93% of the donors to the 3rd Party Election Advertising Sponsor Homes For Living during the 2022 Local Government Election, donated anonymously. Serious questions need to be raised with the Province over the lack of transparency surrounding local government election campaign financing. – CRD Watch Homepage
Grateful to… – George Anderson for Nanaimo – Lantzville BC NDP | Facebook
The following is the letter that Homes For Living wrote to Nanaimo MLA George Anderson, in support of Bill M216 the bill that Anderson is attempting to get passed:
While the UDI registers lobbying activity including lobbying letters to provincial officials, Homes For Living does not register such activity. HFL, like the UDI is registered as a Society under the Societies Act.
HFL members meet with MLAs to advance development oriented interests, and write lobbying letters, yet have claimed that they do not need to register lobbying activity, because they are unpaid volunteers. As such so the thinking runs, they are not thus subject to registration requirements of the BC Lobbyists Transparency Act (LTA).
This lack of requirements for registering unpaid lobbying activity shows a giant hole in the LTA, which could be exploited through proxy lobbying, where greater interests could utilize smaller organizations and astroturfing groups to advance their agenda, without themselves having to register lobbying activity, or if they do, the smaller groups can amplify their lobbying without registering it.
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Conclusion:
The effects of Bill M216 could be considered if passed, an example of local government capture by outside corporate interests. It is critical that the public recognize the organizations advancing those interests, and the patterns associated with them. They will continuously repeat, as the jackhammer of interests continues to whittle away through their overwhelming influence over the BC NDP, at any vestiges that remain of public power and voice at local government.
They will attempt the same with any government in power, but among their greatest success of radical deregulation of urban planning has taken place under the BC NDP. This should never be forgotten. The usual suspects, if they morph and shapeshift, will come with a thousand faces, and different organizations, the public cannot let their guard down for a moment.
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See also: Index of Articles Related to BC Bill M216 – CRD Watch Homepage
Index of Articles and other Media Coverage about Homes For Living – CRD Watch Homepage
Index of articles revealing major lobbying influence on B.C. Provincial Housing Bills and Housing Targets. – CRD Watch Homepage
CRD Watch Homepage 
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