Alec Lazenby
Alec Lazenby follows how provincial politics and government decisions flow through into housing, real estate development and the wider social fabric. He reports for The Vancouver Sun from the provincial legislature, tracking the intersection of policy, land use and market behaviour rather than treating real estate as a stand‑alone business beat. His work focuses on the tension between stated goals such as affordability or public safety and the outcomes that show up in specific projects, empty buildings and strained services.
HousingHub, affordability and contested “middle-income” rentals
A central thread in Lazenby’s coverage is the controversy around government-backed efforts to create rental housing marketed as “affordable” for middle-income households. He has reported on the province’s HousingHub program, detailing how projects meant to help middle-income families ended up charging high rents and becoming flashpoints for complaints about delayed delivery, bankruptcy and a mismatch between rhetoric and reality. In that work he explains the program’s original promise, walks through the financial and regulatory snags that stalled or reshaped projects, and gives space to tenants and critics who argue the units are out of reach.
His stories make clear how these housing initiatives land in real buildings with real rents, not just in press releases, and they treat HousingHub as a case study in the limits of policy-driven affordability.
Empty condos, stalled projects and developers under pressure
Lazenby spends significant time on the phenomenon of approved projects that stall and completed condos that sit unsold.
He has reported on thousands of constructed units that remain empty in Metro Vancouver, pairing those numbers with coverage of real estate companies forced to lay off long‑time staff as projects are paused or abandoned. In one piece he digs into developers’ objections to a proposed buyout of empty condos, showing how firms weigh the terms on offer against their own balance sheets, brand and expectations for future market recovery.
Across these stories he treats developers not as monolithic villains or heroes but as actors responding to layered signals from interest rates, construction costs, municipal regulations and provincial initiatives. His reporting shows how policy meant to boost supply interacts with financing realities and market psychology, and it highlights the human impact when layoffs and cancellations ripple through the industry.
Legislature reporting on health, addiction and social programs
Alongside housing and land use, Lazenby covers health, addiction and social policy files that are central to provincial politics.
He has reported on changes to the safer‑supply drug program, including new requirements for participants to take doses under supervision by nurses or pharmacists, and he links those operational shifts to debates about harm reduction, public safety and capacity in the health system. In another line of coverage he examines the governing party’s reversal on involuntary care for people with severe substance use issues, asking whether the change will move the needle on treatment outcomes and how it fits into a broader pattern of policy flip‑flops.
This work shows the same method he applies to housing: starting with the text of a policy change, following it through to the institutions and professionals who must implement it, and then reporting back on the practical consequences for the people subject to the new rules.
Water, land and resource files in provincial politics
Lazenby also works on major resource and land management questions that come before the provincial government. He has taken a close look at disputes over water rights linked to the Columbia River, explaining how cross‑border politics and long‑standing agreements shape local anxieties about security, economic development and environmental stewardship.
His questions in public forums about the province’s land management deals and proposed changes to legislation show the same focus on how legal language might affect private property, Indigenous rights and Crown land administration. In these stories he treats water and land issues as part of the same continuum as housing and real estate, where government commitments to reconciliation, development and environmental standards can collide.
The coverage connects courtroom decisions, cabinet choices and municipal concerns in a way that makes provincial resource files legible to readers who normally follow housing or business news.
Developers, municipalities and political accountability
Across beats, Lazenby’s reporting often returns to the question of who bears responsibility when housing targets are missed or projects disappoint.
He has written about the appointment of special advisors to municipalities that lag far behind their provincial housing targets, spelling out what those advisors are asked to examine and how their presence signals frustration from the provincial government. His work on the legislature’s broader turbulence - including high‑profile reversals on decriminalization, land act changes and mineral claims - situates housing and real estate stories inside a wider pattern of rapid policy shifts and political messaging. His pieces draw out the roles of municipal councils, provincial ministers, developers and affected communities, showing where power sits and how accountability is enforced or evaded.
The result is coverage that treats real estate not just as a market, but as a contested arena in provincial politics.
4 more real estate journalists.
Addie Morfoot
Addie Morfoot covers how real estate, culture and media meet, focusing on people, rules and the way homes shape a life. She reports for The New York Times on housing and lifestyle, from personal narratives about finding a home after loss to features on how short-term rental policy affects everyday owners and renters. She writes real estate stories that connect laws and regulations to the choices available to ordinary residents in specific towns and cities. She is a regular contributor to the Sunday Routine franchise, following actors, comedians and designers through a typical day and showing how settings like homes, studios and subway cars shape daily experience. She also has a long track record covering documentary film and the entertainment business, including legal questions around fair use, changing docu-series formats, festival premieres and financing. Her portfolio spans more than two decades of work for The New York Times, Variety, The Wall Street Journal and Crain’s New York Business.
Alcynna Lloyd
Alcynna Lloyd is a real estate reporter and economic journalist at Business Insider whose work is distinct for treating housing as a core economic system people must navigate. She covers how housing markets, costs, and mobility shape everyday life decisions, connecting data on rents, home prices, and city trends with stories of people managing debt, multigenerational living, and moves abroad. Her beat centers on housing costs, renters, and household strategies, following renters pushing back against landlords and tracking “desperate home sellers” using concessions in unaffordable markets. A second strand of her coverage focuses on relocation, remote work, and cheap cities as everyday economic strategies. She regularly uses rankings and lists, such as best and worst states to buy a home and Rising Stars of Real Estate, and reads city housing and migration shifts as signs of broader economic change.
Amir Ali
Amir Ali links housing, disputes, and oddball neighbourhood stories in case-based, street-level reporting for Daily Hive. He holds a senior editorial and writing role, listed on the masthead as part of Vancouver leadership and described as a staff writer. His core beat is real estate, especially the rental market and housing affordability, tracking rent ranges, market shifts, and how pressures land on people trying to stay housed. He also covers crime, civil tribunals, and mental health, explaining decisions and conflicts in plain language that focuses on timelines, behaviour, and outcomes. Ali writes offbeat hyperlocal features, traffic and transport disruptions, business, food, and general local news, often turning infrastructure, small businesses, and civic systems into tangible stories. A former radio producer, he brings tight pacing and clear stakes to written pieces and maintains an active social media presence as a broadcaster and writer.
Andrea Yu
Andrea Yu is a freelance journalist whose real estate coverage for The Globe and Mail uses detailed buyer case studies to show how specific budgets translate into real homes and condos. She focuses on affordability, treating each purchase as a clear before-and-after narrative where price, unit type, location and lifestyle needs are all visible. Her Home Run series follows individual buyers or households through a defined budget and search, then documents what they actually buy and the compromises they make. Her housing reporting feeds into broader coverage of affordability and access to housing. Alongside real estate, she maintains a wider portfolio across business, culture, design, health, food, drink and travel for general-interest magazines, drawing on prior staff roles and formal journalism training to keep her stories precise on numbers and grounded in everyday life.