Avi Friedman: Thinking Outside the Box on Affordable Housing

The SFU Centre for Dialogue presents renowned international housing expert Dr. Avi Friedman, in collaboration with the Urban Development Institute, City of Vancouver, Social Planning and Research Council of BC, BC Non-Profit Housing Association and other partners.
For additional information about the lecture and related activities, see the HomesNow website: www.sfu.ca/homesnow/outputs-and-findings/september-2011-conference.html
Lecture Description:
Metro Vancouver's many attributes make it a highly desirable place to live and invest. Unfortunately, that makes housing, whether rental or ownership, unaffordable for many of the region's citizens. The need to think outside the box about lower-cost residential options has become an urgent priority. Renowned international housing expert Dr. Avi Friedman speaks about what's making housing unaffordable in Metro Vancouver -- as well as the direct and indirect contributions that affordable housing makes to communities. He describes potential housing strategies, including examples of local and international projects, that offer innovative affordable housing solutions for this region.
Keynote biography: Avi Friedman, Professor, McGill University School of Architecture
Dr. Avi Friedman received his Bachelor's degree in Architecture and Town Planning from the Israel Institute of Technology, his Master's Degree from McGill University, and his Doctorate from the University of Montréal. In 1988, he founded the Affordable Homes Program at the McGill School of Architecture where he teaches. He is known nationally and internationally for his housing innovation and in particular for the Grow Home and Next Home designs. He is the author of ten books and was a syndicated columnist for the CanWest Chain of daily newspapers. He is a practicing architect and the recipient of numerous awards including the Manning Innovation Award and the United Nations World Habitat Award. In the year 2000 he was selected by Wallpaper magazine as 1 of 10 people from around the world "most likely to change the way we live".
Moderator biography: Peter Ladner, Fellow, SFU Centre for Dialogue
Peter Ladner is a Fellow of the SFU Centre for Dialogue, promoting the project "Planning Cities as if Food Matters." His book The Urban Food Revolution: Changing the Way We Feed Cities, was published by New Society Publishers in fall, 2011. He is a former Vancouver City Councillor, Metro Vancouver director, and publisher of Business in Vancouver newspaper.

[@creativeaxes]

The fact that we cannot see the presentation on screen spoils the quality of this very good presentation.

[@sheriffdeenolatunde8545]

I enjoyed it while it lasted. Dr Friedman gave the presentation for close 2hrs, without mincing words- superb.

[@brunogibin]

Very nice, congratulations! Could you add a link to the slide presentation he did, please?

[@moladi]

This is what we have been challenging - Housing for the Base of the Pyramid - Innovative Technology for 2013 - moladi construction technology

[@SFUDialogue]

Hi pika0902, The link works when I copy it into my address bar at the top of my browser window. If it is not working for you, you can always go to sfu(dot)ca/homesnow, click on "outputs and findings" in the navigation bar, and then "September 2011 conference." Unfortunately, KZbin won't let me post a properly formatted URL in a comment box.

[@SFUDialogue]

Hi cardellacole4. We definitely do not clear comments off so long as they are not offensive and we welcome your comments.

[@nthperson]

What I wanted to add is to note that property markets become very stressed when land-to-total value ratios rise above 24-30%. In many major cities the ratio has hit over 50%. This means that half or more of the cost of a residential property is just for land. Markets cannot sustain this "dead weight cost" and remain strong and vital. Employers either cut back on labor costs to compensate or relocate altogether.

[@SFUDialogue]

Hi Bruno, Unfortunately, we don't have permission to post the presentation slides. You can find Avi Friedman's suggested action plan on our HomesNow website. Please see our updated description of the video for the link. Cheers, -The Centre for Dialogue Team

[@nthperson]

For ten years I worked at Fannie Mae as a business manager and market analysis. Mr. Friedman's observations merely confirm that the so-called "experts" in the field fail to acknowledge and power of and dysfunctional nature of land markets.The key to making housing (and everything else) affordable is for society to capture land's rental value via taxation. The price of land reflects the capitalization of net imputed land rent, driven upward by hoarding and speculation (continued).

[@buildingutopia7617]

Land is usually artificially restricted, when it is restricted, which drives its price into the stratosphere. Densification is often promoted as a solution, but building up is inherently expensive due to the structural demands. Generally it costs about 2x as much on a per square-meter basis. And regardless, over 80% of the market just doesn't want to live that way. They want their space (when they can have it). The great myth is that the human footprint (negative) is a function of housing. No way. It is overwhelmingly about food. And urbanisation can be, and often is, extremely 'green' in itself. Humans love their trees and gardens. kzbin.info/www/bejne/l6qbqHqal7Z4orc

[@lemilemi5385]

this guy is a lightweight, what is everyone in awe of? The Uni's in America must be crap. He is quoting the NYT! what a cliche.