Metro Van Alliance Focus on Housing
The Metro Vancouver Alliance, an organization that brings organizations together in the lower mainland for the common good, held its Delegate's Assembly September 19. Over 150 people gathered for the assembly at the Vancouver Unitarian Church.
The focus of the work of Metro Vancouver Alliance at this time is on co-op housing and environmental issues, both of which particularly can be addressed by Vancouver municipal Council leading up to the municipal election of October , 2026.
Addressing the assembly was Thom Armstrong, CEO BC Co-op Housing Federation with whom the housing team of MVA has been working with closely. In attendance at this Assembly were Anglican Member Organizations of MVA:
-The Justice and Peace Unit of the diocese,
-Urban Aboriginal Ministry,
-St. Laurence,
-St. Thomas, Vancouver
-and The Diocese of New Westminster as a MVA Sponsoring Organization.
Anyone interested in hearing more about MVA and connection with their parish is welcome to be in touch with The Reverend Margaret Marquardt through the diocesan office.
On September 17, MVA laid the first stone in shaping the October 2026 municipal election. We are committed to holding the 2026 mayoral candidates accountable on two key community concerns: Co-op Housing and Climate Change.
At the assembly, we launched our climate listening campaign. We want to hold listening sessions in our member organizations from now until the end of the year so we can talk about how climate impacts our daily lives in concrete ways, and what municipal actions would make a real difference. These listening sessions will shape MVA's climate campaign, and the ask we will pin the mayoral candidates on at our 2026 assembly.
We learned from Kari Scott-Whyte (CUPE) about how municipal decisions affect our day-to-day lives in ways we might not expect, and why it is important to ensure the candidates elected for city council or school trustee positions will advocate for what actually matters to us. We also heard from Thom Armstrong (CHFBC) about the current state of co-op housing in BC and the direct action we could take to push for more long-term affordable housing in our cities.
And take action we did! We signed or gave out 100 postcards addressed to Housing Minister Christine Boyle urging her to prioritize funding co-op housing. We will be delivering those postcards to her - if not by mail, then in-person!
We had an excellent turnout of close to 100 participants, who left feeling energized and empowered to take further action by: organizing climate listening sessions, sending out more postcards, joining the Housing or Climate teams, and getting trained to organize their own institutions.
Photos Credits: The Rev. Margaret Marquardt, Chair, Justice and Peace Unit.