We're so out of sync and lacking a sense of urgency on this matter, I fully expect the province of BC to make sweeping changes to regulation that will be a serious shock to everyone.
If we don't keep up with demand and dramatically change our perspective and priorities, the social impacts will be dire. I think we've been too comfortable for too long to see it, but... We're on the precipice of a real crisis. The societal impacts of not having housing while people are losing social mobility are very, very severe and likely unprecedented in the lifetimes of most British Columbians.
I really hope we can get it together. The mayor asking for a pause on development is concerned (rightfully) about ensuring infrastructure meets housing demands. While I fully appreciate the need for that to happen, it seems to me that 1) we should have been addressing that a decade ago, and 2) his job is to address that now in a manner that doesn't neglect to address the more pressing issue that we don't have enough housing.
We need to clean up as we go; we don't have the luxury of planning. We lost that convenience a long, long time ago, and we have to do this "scared" as they say.
I don't mean to sound like a doomer here, but I have the distinct sense that many Canadians (likely especially true among those who aren't facing lack of food, housing, or income) are dangerously unaware of the hill we're currently sliding down. We're still near the top, but there's a long way to slide down and it's very slippery. We don't have our hiking boots on, and it's going to be a struggle to scramble back up. In order to get there, we're going to need to just do something. No 6 month pauses. No perfect community planning.
Pardon my Canadian here, but we really fucked the dog on this one.