Better Dwelling
Better Dwelling is a Vancouver-based daily news publisher and financial media company. It operates Canada’s largest independent housing news outlet. History. Better Dwelling was founded in 2016 as a real estate blog that used artificial intelligence to assist with its data journalism. It was co-founded by Stephen Punwasi, whose background is in cognitive computing and machine learning. In 2017, the company began a daily news syndication service carried by mainstream news publishers such as Business Insider, HuffPost, and Maclean's. Better Dwelling has played a prominent role in the debate of the Canadian property bubble  and housing crisis. The organization and its staff have collaborated on research with Canada’s national housing agency and Transparency International Canada. In 2021, Better Dwelling was an innocent bystander to a controversy involving Big Tech’s censorship of criticism of China and Optimum Publishing International. The outlet had published an “innocuous” clip of an interview with Optimum author and Global News reporter Sam Cooper, discussing his coverage of the Cullen Commission. Shortly after publishing the video clip, the outlet’s staff was removed from managing its Facebook page. The page was later restored with Facebook stating it was an  error. Research. Money Laundering and Property. The outlet has played a key role in exposing money laundering in Canadian real estate. Notable contributions involve publishing a leaked Canadian intelligence report that alleges transnational criminals have used housing Vancouver, Canada for laundering since the1990s and an analysis with Transparency International on billions in opaque ownership in Toronto. One co-founder is thanked by name for "his market knowledge" in a report commissioned by the Government of British Columbia and conducted by former RCMP Commissioner Peter German. However it's unclear to what extent he was involved in the report, since he  is not credited as a consultant. The organization's staff testified how money laundering impacts real estate prices at the Cullen Commission, BC's "Inquiry Into Money Laundering." Vacant Home Epidemic. A research report from the outlet showed the extent of vacant housing in global cities, helping to coin the term "vacant home epidemic" and argues a tax could fix the problem. This report sparked a debate on whether owning additional homes that aren't used full-time is a contributor to inequality and should be subject to a vacant home tax. Governments such as the European Union and the  City of Toronto have cited the research in their consideration of taxes, while homeowners argue this would unfairly penalize homeowners of vacation homes.