• Increased per capita ratio for police to residents equivalent to ration of Vancouver.  With the incremental increase of population over the years and the larger geographic area of Surrey, an increase in the numbers of police members per capita is desirable.
• Consult and consider a municipal police force for Surrey, include consultation with RCMP
• City Council take the lead in public education efforts and establish more effective deterrents to prevent criminal activity.
• Ongoing education on laws and why they are implemented
• Strategies to deter criminality and dedicated funding for this purpose
• Public and community group input and consultation on policing methods and effectiveness of delivery
• By-law enforcement equally administered throughout the city.
• Increase patrol for discarded needles and other hazardous materials.  In partnership with the Province, introduce 25c deposit on needles to encourage users not to dump needles after use.
• Bylaws created must include cost of implementation
• Bylaw enforcement carried out without private company that utilizes a quota ticketing system
• Budget funding for dedicated enforcement/collection department self-sustaining and arm’s length from council to avoid bias.
• An interface with community services that assists people involved in crimes and experiencing proverty those trapped in need to escape from a life of crime and poverty
• A strategy to help parent whose children who have become involved in criminal activity
• Providing funding to collect penalties and counter disputes in court.
• The provincial government return of revenues from the fire services tax to municipalities in order to further fund and expand Surrey’s Fire Department.

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• supports the following principles:  METRO G.V.R.D. representatives should be elected rather than appointed, allowing more accountability. 
  Federal constitutional amendments needed to guarantee the city a fixed share of general revenue.
  Advisory bodies should represent the diversity of Surrey. These bodies would act as the voice on local, regional, provincial or national concerns.
  a referendum on the ward system.
  Neighbourhood community involvement, money or property, diversity in council/school board, transparency, representation from all areas

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Supports Land Development receiving final approval by councilors when:

• Neighborhood consultation has occurred and the existing neighborhood agrees with the development.
• The development pays its fair share for upgrading existing and new services including schools, parks& recreation, natural areas, fire and ambulance, hospitals, roads and drainage, all based on comprehensive plans in place.
• Any rezoning is done in conjunction with all of the foregoing.
• Surrey OCP policies which promote sustainability and protection of the environment including real protection of trees and wooded areas.
• Surrey must work collaboratively with surrounding jurisdictions and its citizens to protect and ensure the success of healthy, sustainable agricultural and natural areas for the benefits of citizenry and wildlife dependent on the region.
• The principle must include triple bottom line accounting practices giving considerations to economic social and environmental factors, recognizing that maintenance of a healthy environment is the only way

 
We are committed to affordable shelter for all of the citizens of Surrey whatever their circumstance, with this in mind we plan to.
 
Increase density with price controlled living spaces. The developer must provide the price of the home at the time of the development permit application. The city will conduct an analysis of the suggested price and will make sure that the price will not increase any time after the building permit has been issued providing costs have not significantly changed.

1. Ensure roads, parks, community centers, infrastructure and other public facilities will be the responsibility of developers and taken into account for any new development plans, not discounting City partnerships 
2. Multiple unit developers (Town Homes and Apartments) must sell 20-30% of homes to first-time local buyers, low income families without homes, and seniors at a reduced price. The city will increase density of the project. This would be subject to having lived in the city at least 5 years to start. 
3. The city may unlock more land available for housing and allow developers to build more densely in return for certain commitments. This includes: affordable, subsidized housing and assistance for first time buyers to get financing using a shared equity model City/Credit unions/buyer?
4. Moratorium on the sale of all city land (Greenfield sites) to developers and builders for a set number of years. Except development specifically sanctioned by the city as “Affordable Housing)
5. A change of tax treatment of properties on farmland leaving the fields exempt from taxes but treating dwellings the same as others in the city alternately a service surcharge for multiple family occupancies who at present cost other taxpayers for overuse of shared costs, schooling, road upkeep, parks maintenance etc.

Background info
 
The most recent study on Housing in Metro Vancouver was conducted by Christopher Cheung, published on July 13, 2018. It revealed that Vancouver is the most unaffordable city in not only Canada, but all of North America. According to the study, the median home price is $800,220, which is 11 times the median household income of $72,660. Extrapolate a single earners income likely about half and the affordability crunch becomes even more obvious.

Compared to two years prior, the median home price was $598,085, which was 9.4 times the median household income of $ 61,072.

These are the housing prices for the last 6 years in the city of Surrey:

Year             Detached House          Town House           Apartment
2013               $549,500                      $239,300                 $ 219,196
2014               $573,100                      $293,500                  $192,600          
2015               $672,400                      $321,800                  $204,900
2016               $856,700                      $416,600                  $259,000
2017               $976,400                      $513,100                  $388,600
2018               $1,018,900                   $558,000                 $453,500
During the last 6 years, the median household income has remained at $69,995.

The household income for low income families between 2015-2018 remains at $38,880.   

The average inflation rate of the last six years has been 22.66%, while average inflation per year remains 3.77%.
In the last ten years, house prices have increased by 167% and in the last six years, the housing prices have increased by nearly 100%. The rent has increased by 100%, while property taxes and utilities have also increased substantially.

The average median and low household incomes have not increased, yet the cost of housing has, which leaves a massive gap. This has created a serious crisis for
 
Most of the citizens in Surrey and elsewhere in Vancouver, particularly for first time buyers and young families are in need of assistance as they simply cannot afford to buy or even rent. Single parents, especially low income Moms/Dads paying child support as well face additional difficulties under present federal tax laws.

The General Principal of Affordability says that maximum 30% of household income can be used to cover housing in mortgage payments or in rent including basic utilities in order to meet this principal.


We are concerned with the role of the local government at the municipal level. We are suggesting certain drastic measures to provide relief for common citizens, namely: “Extraordinary measures for an extraordinary situation”
Rampant development within Surrey without considered infrastructure has raced ahead without consideration for those who have to suffer the lack of Parking, Schools and local stores due to the single minded profit at any cost model we have endured for many years.
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Change will not happen overnight but with a well thought through housing policy as part of a poverty reduction plan, the city will emerge from its Dickensian landscape of poverty to a richer safer future, Surrey Deserves Better.

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Council transportation decisions will be guided by the transportation hierarchy:

1. Walking
2. Cycling 
3. Public transit
4. Good and commercial services
5. High occupancy vehicles
6. Single occupant vehicles

 

• This will include a better bus grid, better involvement of Federal/Provincial government, more in-depth examination on types of rail system – above ground/below ground.
• Working with local neighborhoods and public/private groups
• Light rail technology is preferred because the economic benefits are almost ten times those of sky train. SCC supports the concept of light rail transit for North Surrey after further study and in consideration of what has already been spent, mayors’ transportation plan etc.. A proposed route would run approximately 10 km from Newton north along the King George corridor to Whalley, then east to Guildford. This vital transportation initiative would link the existing Sky train Expo line at Whalley with the proposed Interurban line in Newton and with a future B-Line bus service along 152 Street and north over the new Port Mann Bridge.
• Higher use of rail corridors via more commercial traffic be diverted to rail.
• Rail lines should be developed as commuter routes with priority to a new interurban service:  from Scott Road Station to Cloverdale and onto Langley Center and, if feasible, Chilliwack
• Doubling our bus fleet within 5 year this would eliminate overcrowding and under-serviced areas.
• Public transit should be provided in any new large residential, Commercial, or industrial developments upon completion of the area, costs defrayed by development cost charges. Past GVRD long terms plans have called for 50% more buses than we have currently: during the same period we have doubled in population
• Public transit service should be expanded, including Rapid Bus Transit service over the Port Mann Bridge, and existing routes including the 351 bus should remain in the future
• Amenities (i.e. bus priority measures, sidewalks, bus shelters, bicycle lanes) should be standard features on all arterial roads. 
• Transit queue jumpers, HOV lanes, accessible bus stops, public washrooms, car pools, and park & ride lots should be established to increase efficiency and viability.
• Future high density development rezoning will ear mark part of the windfall profits on transit improvements, or paying for the cost of new transit stations, developing bus rapid transit systems and/or streetcar lines. 
• To improve safety, more frequent late-night transit service should be offered, including 24-hour Sky Train, and more Transit Police and security personnel should be present on public transit routes at all hours of the day. 
• City to draft budget comparing how it could spend a fractions of the $3 billion cost of the province’s Gateway Program to make substantial improvements without massive debt or encouraging more sprawl and congestion. 
• City negotiate with the province and federal government for a percentage of tax revenue generated in city to help pay for costs of needed service to residents in the city
• Rebuilding the Pattulla Bridge and twinning the Port Mann Bridge with no survey of residents
• Sprawl negates the potential for transit: plans for future growth must have the density levels that would encourage transit use; current sprawls eats up our green areas

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Our Youth have a right to excellent education and facilities which promote their health, social, physical and emotional development. They have the right to safety, shelter and good nutrition. They must be feel included, develop skills and contribute to Surrey’s social fabric
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• Transportation for youth - We need service in areas where buses are lacking, we need to make busing free for youth aged 15 to 21 Bring to Surrey a Mental Health Centre for youth that will address addiction specifically which is affordable.
• Bring to Surrey a much-needed Mental Health Centre for youth that will address addiction
• More Arts Recreation and Sports programs which are affordable​
• Provide recreational amenities to them for free until the age of 18. 

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• Protect rural lands from urban development.
• Reduce sprawl, e.g. urban containment boundary. Infrastructure decisions to reinforce containment policy.
• Greenhouse gas targets achieved through built form i.e. compact development, reduced transportation and improvements to industrial, business and agricultural activities.
• Protect natural assets (e.g. conservation and recreational lands and waterways) and continue to identify and develop green corridors.
• Encourage green building practices for new and retrofits, promoting environmentally friendly building practices that address pollution, waste, energy and include maximizing solar gain and that use planning processes that avoid critical habitat and preserve, protect and enhance natural habitat and landscape features.
• Support our international role and responsibility for the integrity of the Pacific Flyway and the need to maintain open land based agricultural practices in our region.
• Realize the value and role of the natural environment in health observing both passive and recreational opportunities.
• Reduce waste with management practices that minimize waste using the principles of reduce, reuse, recycle and recover.
• Create more “destination parks” and ensure greenspace availability in compact urban centers so there is convenient, equitable access to natural, green spaces for leisure, play and natural connections. Development of areas for processing local farm products.
• A review and strengthening of the current Surrey sustainability policy.
• The use of only natural pesticides that is harmless to humans or the environment in Surrey.Surrey¹s public amenities, parks and cultural facilities be accessible to all citizens i.e. affordable, conveniently located and responsive e.g.  where possible public schools, often described as the heart of a neighbourhood or community,  could be employed to provide for after school community building activities.