Homes for Living is a volunteer organization focused on improving housing afffordability and availability for people across Greater Victoria. The rankings are based on housing track records, public statements on housing, platforms, and replies to our housing survey. Rankings DO NOT represent a political endorsement and voters are encouraged to do their own research. The data pertains exclusively to housing, those interested in other issues should consider information provided by other organizations and research candidates independently.
Our top ranked candidates for mayor and council can be found below. Please review the full details of the scoring including candidates' responses to our survey in the data table at the bottom of the page.
For Mayor
- Dean Murdock OR Fred Haynes.
Both scored highly on our ranking. Each has unique strengths on housing. - Fred Haynes - Fred Haynes has a strong record on housing. He has voted in favour of most housing proposals brought before council during his term in office. He also voted to legalize garden suites, move away from local area planning, and voted in favour of the interim building height policies. His responses to our housing survey were excellent as they were holistic yet specific. His housing platform is decent but lacks many specifics.
- Dean Murdock - Dean Murdock has a strong position on housing. His housing survey reply was among the best of all candidates who completed the questionnaire. His campaign has focused heavily on housing attainability and affordability. His public statements, podcasts, and social media feed illustrate a solid understanding of the municipality’s housing issues as does his campaign platform.
For Council
- Zac de Vries - Zac de Vries has a strong record on housing. He has voted for nearly all housing proposals brought before council during his term in office. He also voted to legalize garden suites, was instrumental in moving away from local area planning, and voted in favour of the interim building height policies. His replies to our housing survey were arguably the most comprehensive of any candidate and his platform backs up these survey answers with clear and concrete actions to address the housing crisis.
- Basil Langevin - Basil has a strong position on housing. Basil’s housing survey reply was among the strongest of all candidates who completed the questionnaire. Their housing platform was arguably more detailed and well thought through versus any peer running for office and Basil’s public statements on housing affirm their commitment to work towards viable and meaningful housing solutions.
- Karen Harper - Karen Harper has a strong record on housing. She has voted in favour of all housing proposals brought before council during her term in office. She also voted to legalize garden suites, move away from local area planning, and voted in favour of the interim building height policy. Her response to our housing survey was detailed and demonstrated a deep understanding of the housing crisis. Her housing platform identifies material steps the municipality could take to address many of the city’s housing issues.
- Colin Plant - Colin Plant has a strong record on housing. He has voted in favour of most housing proposals brought before council during his term in office. He also voted to legalize garden suites, move away from local area planning, and voted in favour of the interim building height policy. His responses to our housing survey were detailed and thorough. His platform mentions improving access to attainable and affordable housing but lacks specifics.
- Susan Brice - Susan Brice has a strong record on housing. She has approved nearly all housing proposals brought before council during her term in office. She voted to legalize garden suites and voted in favour of the interim building height policy, but did not vote to pause all local area plans. She introduced the motion for Saanich to investigate adopting a policy similar to Victoria's Rapid Deployment of Affordable Housing Initiative. Her replies to our housing survey were sound and comprehensive but she lacks a detailed housing platform on her campaign website.
- Teale Phelps Bondaroff - Dr. Teale Phelps Bondaroff has a mixed position on housing. His housing survey reply was detailed and suggests he is supportive of most housing solutions the municipality could implement. Teale does not have many public facing statements regarding housing, though he is supportive of dense mixed-use projects as well as below market housing. His housing platform lacks significant detail about policy reforms.
- Trevor Barry - Trevor Barry has a mixed position on housing. Though his response to our housing survey was largely positive and he has specific housing goals in mind, there were gaps around certain solutions for below market housing. Trevor's website makes clear that he understands the municipal planning process and we are glad to see a call for specific reform of zoning along corridors and major centers. Trevor has attended local housing events organized by Livable Victoria but his public statement regarding potential housing solutions are scarce. We found his housing platform lacking as it does not sufficiently address below market and affordable housing production.
- Jordan MacDougall - Jordan MacDougall has a mixed position on housing. While his housing survey reply is generally pro-housing and he understands the scale of the housing crisis, there are notable gaps in his plans to address the problems. His public statements on housing are strong and he regularly focuses on student housing solutions. Jordan’s platform recognizes the importance of housing but is too vague to be considered best in class.
Scoring
Note that there is a different weighting for incumbent councillors vs new candidates since we are able to use more data points (notably their voting record) for incumbents. See the detailed methodology or the summary below.
The total score is the summation of individual sub scores defined below:
Housing Reform Score - A score for incumbents' voting record on key housing reforms. In Saanich this included the legalization of Garden Suites, the move away from local area planning to more efficient villages and corridors planning, and the adoption of higher interim height limits in apartment zones and on corridors.
Vote Tracker Score - A score for incumbents representing their voting records for individual housing projects at public hearing.
Survey Score - A score for all candidates representing the total points given for the answers on the Homes for Living survey.
Platform Score - A score given to all candidates on the quality and content of their housing platform.
Public Statements - A score for new candidates given for public comments on housing.
Scores and rankings were assembled by volunteers carefully reviewing data and public information on candidates' positions and records on housing. Spot a mistake? Email us to have it reviewed.
