Adam Mongrain
@adammongrain.bsky.social
Director - Housing policy | Directeur - Habitation, Vivre en Ville
Montréal, Québec
EN/FR
Montréal, Québec
EN/FR
Pinned
Adam Mongrain
@adammongrain.bsky.social
· Oct 29
Opening Doors | Publications | Carrefour Vivre en Ville
Consultez notre publication « Opening Doors ». Carrefour Vivre en Ville
carrefour.vivreenville.org
I wish there was a way to convey how much of a big deal this is to me, I wish you could feel it.
Our work on housing policy, condensed in a single report, has finally been translated to English. You can download it here:
carrefour.vivreenville.org/publication/...
(Click "Télécharger le PDF")
Our work on housing policy, condensed in a single report, has finally been translated to English. You can download it here:
carrefour.vivreenville.org/publication/...
(Click "Télécharger le PDF")
Reposted by Adam Mongrain
amazing photo on spanish wikipedia's chinchilla article
December 19, 2025 at 11:11 PM
amazing photo on spanish wikipedia's chinchilla article
@davidwachsmuth.bsky.social David! You're on Bluesky!
December 17, 2025 at 2:50 AM
@davidwachsmuth.bsky.social David! You're on Bluesky!
Reposted by Adam Mongrain
Agree!
And I'd add that most vacancy taxes are structured to only penalize long-term vacancies, where properties are vacant more than 6 months or the year, and purposely held off the market.
See, e.g., Vancouver's expansive Empty Homes Tax exemptions. vancouver.ca/home-propert...
And I'd add that most vacancy taxes are structured to only penalize long-term vacancies, where properties are vacant more than 6 months or the year, and purposely held off the market.
See, e.g., Vancouver's expansive Empty Homes Tax exemptions. vancouver.ca/home-propert...
Evidence and exemptions: Will your home be taxed?
Determine if your property will be subject to the Empty Homes Tax (Vacancy Tax).
vancouver.ca
December 16, 2025 at 11:32 PM
Agree!
And I'd add that most vacancy taxes are structured to only penalize long-term vacancies, where properties are vacant more than 6 months or the year, and purposely held off the market.
See, e.g., Vancouver's expansive Empty Homes Tax exemptions. vancouver.ca/home-propert...
And I'd add that most vacancy taxes are structured to only penalize long-term vacancies, where properties are vacant more than 6 months or the year, and purposely held off the market.
See, e.g., Vancouver's expansive Empty Homes Tax exemptions. vancouver.ca/home-propert...
I thought a bit through @missingmiddleca.bsky.social's inclusion of vacancy taxes in the category of harmful policies with regards to overall supply and decided to blog it.
medium.com/@AdamMongrai...
With thanks to @jensvb.bsky.social and @lausterna.bsky.social wonderful work on Unoccupied Canada.
medium.com/@AdamMongrai...
With thanks to @jensvb.bsky.social and @lausterna.bsky.social wonderful work on Unoccupied Canada.
The point of vacancy taxes is to increase vacancy rates
Missing Middle Initiative has a new report out, grading provinces on housing policies and housing outcomes. It is, as usual, a dizzying…
medium.com
December 16, 2025 at 10:23 PM
I thought a bit through @missingmiddleca.bsky.social's inclusion of vacancy taxes in the category of harmful policies with regards to overall supply and decided to blog it.
medium.com/@AdamMongrai...
With thanks to @jensvb.bsky.social and @lausterna.bsky.social wonderful work on Unoccupied Canada.
medium.com/@AdamMongrai...
With thanks to @jensvb.bsky.social and @lausterna.bsky.social wonderful work on Unoccupied Canada.
This is not even tangential to the matter at hand but whenever I read something to the effect of not shooting the messenger, I am reminded of @daraobriain.bsky.social's virtuoso bit about people saying controversial things.
(Starts at 2:25 here.)
youtu.be/fjx1zV7MOQQ?...
(Starts at 2:25 here.)
youtu.be/fjx1zV7MOQQ?...
December 16, 2025 at 9:13 PM
This is not even tangential to the matter at hand but whenever I read something to the effect of not shooting the messenger, I am reminded of @daraobriain.bsky.social's virtuoso bit about people saying controversial things.
(Starts at 2:25 here.)
youtu.be/fjx1zV7MOQQ?...
(Starts at 2:25 here.)
youtu.be/fjx1zV7MOQQ?...
Reposted by Adam Mongrain
US building codes requiring two stairs in multifamily buildings: not only worse living environments, but also more dangerous in fires! What a combination.
Consultants contracted by Minnesota found that an eight-story single-stair building with 6,000 sq. ft. per floor (building 4) has dramatically lower fire risk than a same-height code-compliant two-stair building with a larger floor plate (building 1) www.dli.mn.gov/sites/defaul...
December 12, 2025 at 10:58 PM
US building codes requiring two stairs in multifamily buildings: not only worse living environments, but also more dangerous in fires! What a combination.
Reposted by Adam Mongrain
Also like the negative effects of rent control on construction are not particularly large if the program is designed properly! The revulsion from economists feels mostly aesthetic to me
December 12, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Also like the negative effects of rent control on construction are not particularly large if the program is designed properly! The revulsion from economists feels mostly aesthetic to me
Sharon got 40k followers by being right about things!
I've read this earlier and recommend it: it's very good:
I wish there was a way to convey how much of a big deal this is to me, I wish you could feel it.
Our work on housing policy, condensed in a single report, has finally been translated to English. You can download it here:
carrefour.vivreenville.org/publication/...
(Click "Télécharger le PDF")
Our work on housing policy, condensed in a single report, has finally been translated to English. You can download it here:
carrefour.vivreenville.org/publication/...
(Click "Télécharger le PDF")
December 12, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Sharon got 40k followers by being right about things!
Reposted by Adam Mongrain
This is an argument I have made for a while - if you want to allow more new housing development, you'll face a lot less opposition if you protect existing tenants with rent regulation. Nice to have some more evidence to back that up.
Um, ok...
This paper forthcoming at the JOP provides evidence that rent control in Germany actually made tenants MASSIVELY *less* NIMBY.
This result was in the opposite direction of the authors' pre-registered expectations.
And the effect sizes are, truly, massive.
This paper forthcoming at the JOP provides evidence that rent control in Germany actually made tenants MASSIVELY *less* NIMBY.
This result was in the opposite direction of the authors' pre-registered expectations.
And the effect sizes are, truly, massive.
December 12, 2025 at 2:20 PM
This is an argument I have made for a while - if you want to allow more new housing development, you'll face a lot less opposition if you protect existing tenants with rent regulation. Nice to have some more evidence to back that up.
Something something 3% vacancy rate
“If you trace back many important decisions of the last few decades, you will regularly come up against the uncomfortable sensation that the unacknowledged legislators are … junior civil servants who put placeholder numbers in spreadsheets, which were later adopted as fundamental constraints.”
December 11, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Something something 3% vacancy rate
Reposted by Adam Mongrain
making bolognese and the recipe calls for dry white wine and chicken broth but we are out of both of those so it actually calls for two cans of Coors light
December 11, 2025 at 2:15 AM
making bolognese and the recipe calls for dry white wine and chicken broth but we are out of both of those so it actually calls for two cans of Coors light
Reposted by Adam Mongrain
4 years almost to the day from Larch Lab's City of Vancouver single stair report to today
www.larchlab.com/wp-content/u...
www.larchlab.com/wp-content/u...
December 11, 2025 at 12:42 AM
4 years almost to the day from Larch Lab's City of Vancouver single stair report to today
www.larchlab.com/wp-content/u...
www.larchlab.com/wp-content/u...
While prepping for a presentation in Toronto a few weeks ago, I picked up that one of our graphs hadn't been updated with 2025 numbers. We just made the change. Here's how historically affordable Québec is doing.
December 10, 2025 at 9:30 PM
While prepping for a presentation in Toronto a few weeks ago, I picked up that one of our graphs hadn't been updated with 2025 numbers. We just made the change. Here's how historically affordable Québec is doing.
There was a twist on the Mencken quote (Puritanism: the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy) that stuck with me.
We are essentially governing ourselves out of the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be getting something that they don’t deserve.
We are essentially governing ourselves out of the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be getting something that they don’t deserve.
A lot of reactionary and conservative sentiment is dependant on the article of faith that there can’t ever be enough of anything for everyone. It’s attachment to scarcity as the material requisite to « sensible » or « common sense » allocation of resources.
December 10, 2025 at 8:01 PM
There was a twist on the Mencken quote (Puritanism: the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy) that stuck with me.
We are essentially governing ourselves out of the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be getting something that they don’t deserve.
We are essentially governing ourselves out of the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be getting something that they don’t deserve.
awash in the tantalizing pleasure of knowing a shipping label has been created for my order
December 9, 2025 at 9:10 PM
awash in the tantalizing pleasure of knowing a shipping label has been created for my order
Reposted by Adam Mongrain
*small domino* my mum tells me not to drink diet coke because she read in the Guardian that it causes dementia
*BIG DOMINO* zoom meeting with the editor-in-chief of Neurology to discuss errors i found in multiple peer-reviewed papers
*BIG DOMINO* zoom meeting with the editor-in-chief of Neurology to discuss errors i found in multiple peer-reviewed papers
"Sweeteners can harm cognitive health equivalent to 1.6 years of ageing, study finds"
Or does it? Let's take a look at this "study"...
www.theguardian.com/food/2025/se...
Or does it? Let's take a look at this "study"...
www.theguardian.com/food/2025/se...
Sweeteners can harm cognitive health equivalent to 1.6 years of ageing, study finds
Researchers say low- and no-calorie sweeteners appear to affect thinking and memory in middle age
www.theguardian.com
December 9, 2025 at 4:10 PM
*small domino* my mum tells me not to drink diet coke because she read in the Guardian that it causes dementia
*BIG DOMINO* zoom meeting with the editor-in-chief of Neurology to discuss errors i found in multiple peer-reviewed papers
*BIG DOMINO* zoom meeting with the editor-in-chief of Neurology to discuss errors i found in multiple peer-reviewed papers
Reposted by Adam Mongrain
Breathing easier -- study finds that congestion pricing worked in NY resulting in significant reduction in air pollution.
"The study found that, from January through June 2025, average daily maximum PM2.5 concentrations in Manhattan’s CRZ declined by 3.05 micrograms per cubic meter – a reduction of 22% compared to a projected average of 13.8 micrograms per cubic meter had congestion pricing not been implemented."
Congestion pricing improved air quality in NYC and suburbs | Cornell Chronicle
Cornell researchers tallied the environmental benefits of New York City’s congestion pricing program and found air pollution dropped by 22% in Manhattan, with additional declines across the city’s fiv...
news.cornell.edu
December 9, 2025 at 2:13 AM
Breathing easier -- study finds that congestion pricing worked in NY resulting in significant reduction in air pollution.
There is no way to find a lasting solution to the housing crisis when prices are set by the highest bidder. Every serious plan requires more homes than there are people to dilute the price-setting power of competing bids.
carrefour.vivreenville.org/storage/app/...
carrefour.vivreenville.org/storage/app/...
December 8, 2025 at 9:17 PM
There is no way to find a lasting solution to the housing crisis when prices are set by the highest bidder. Every serious plan requires more homes than there are people to dilute the price-setting power of competing bids.
carrefour.vivreenville.org/storage/app/...
carrefour.vivreenville.org/storage/app/...
What an ideal evening to not have looked at Bluesky for three hours
December 5, 2025 at 2:12 AM
What an ideal evening to not have looked at Bluesky for three hours
Reposted by Adam Mongrain
last night my daughter asked whether there were negative letters, like negative numbers. what a good fuckin question
December 4, 2025 at 7:53 PM
last night my daughter asked whether there were negative letters, like negative numbers. what a good fuckin question
In light of another sports association losing their minds/nerve/soul over trans people, here is a reminder: the people who care about trans people in sports don’t know anything about sports, and less than nothing about women’s sports.
Now you have to know: I train 4 hours a week and I do 8 to 10 tournaments every year and believe you me I suck at badminton. There are levels to this which you can’t know about unless you’re invested.
December 4, 2025 at 1:42 AM
In light of another sports association losing their minds/nerve/soul over trans people, here is a reminder: the people who care about trans people in sports don’t know anything about sports, and less than nothing about women’s sports.
Reposted by Adam Mongrain
This this this
December 2, 2025 at 10:01 PM
This this this
I don't know if I read it from Roth before it stuck with me, but the description of recent reactionary movements as a force trying to make the world *smaller* feels like the most correct and insightful. Lines up with yesterday's post about keeping "normal" small.
defector.com/the-conserva...
defector.com/the-conserva...
December 2, 2025 at 7:09 PM
I don't know if I read it from Roth before it stuck with me, but the description of recent reactionary movements as a force trying to make the world *smaller* feels like the most correct and insightful. Lines up with yesterday's post about keeping "normal" small.
defector.com/the-conserva...
defector.com/the-conserva...
Like a lot of Jason's stuff, this is insightful. My take, as someone who scanned as "not normal" for some time, is that we'd have better conversations about identity and alterity if we framed "normal" as a standard that everyone is expected to meet, and not just the average of all existing things.
This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥
December 1, 2025 at 2:11 PM
Like a lot of Jason's stuff, this is insightful. My take, as someone who scanned as "not normal" for some time, is that we'd have better conversations about identity and alterity if we framed "normal" as a standard that everyone is expected to meet, and not just the average of all existing things.
My team re-signs a guy: beginning @hockeyviz.com watch to determine if I can pitch my enthusiasm in the office sports chat as a bloodless, purely scientific appraisal.
November 28, 2025 at 4:24 PM
My team re-signs a guy: beginning @hockeyviz.com watch to determine if I can pitch my enthusiasm in the office sports chat as a bloodless, purely scientific appraisal.