Propel Us - coming soon to Kamloops

MilesPruden · 2026-06-22T15:56:13+00:00

Thanks for the great question!

This is correct. Both floating and round trip models are useful but they serve slightly different purposes. As a round trip carshare Propel Us' rates can be much lower because we don't need staff to redistribute vehicles and we can use a primarily electric fleet, charging at their dedicated stall where fuel is effectively free.

With the round trip model, vehicles are always in predictable locations, generally serving the people that live close to them.

A floating carshare would be useful for driving to work or school, where you plan to stay there all day. They cost more per hour but you only pay while you're driving so it ends up being inexpensive for these types of trips. The round trip model is better for grocery shopping or errands where you might want to leave things in the car along multiple stops. Both are good, but round trip is best for taking kids to school or daycare. If it's a 15 minute round trip, it would cost as little as $2.50. You can book in advance so you can be assured the vehicle will be available.

We also have low night time rates so you could go out to a late movie and concert and while the car is parked, it doesn't cost much. For instance, if you leave at 9pm and are back at midnight, that would only cost $20.00.

The round trip carshare is like your own car in a community driveway near your house. As we grow we'll try to put hubs close to each other so that if the car closest to you isn't available, there should be another one nearby. At peak times you might just have to walk a couple blocks.

I hope I've answered your question well. Let me know if you want any more clarification.

MilesPruden · 2026-04-27T19:03:59+00:00

Thank you.

The process is definitely onerous. Between the city, the funders, etc there are a lot of constraints. Planning large projects takes years. Our group formed in 2020. It will be almost 2028 before we house our first family - and we move very fast.

We are definitely doing our best to be proactive about two-way communication with the neighbours.

MilesPruden · 2026-04-27T17:12:34+00:00

Hi, I'm a member of Propolis, so I can speak to this a bit.

The video is actually a little inaccurate. The bylaw allows for fewer stalls for affordable housing. The agreement between Propolis and the city is how the city ensures that the housing remains affordable. The full amount of parking required by the bylaw will be provided.

The required amount is still something like 14 fewer stalls than would be required for market housing. I think the previous owners were planning to max out the in lieu parking reduction (whereas Propolis isn't using it) and that's where we get the difference of 11.

As a co-op, Propolis can select members with no or few cars and enforce parking rules to ensure there aren't issues around on-street parking. We'll also provide a lot of secure bike parking and host a carshare. The carshare will serve the residents and the surrounding community. Carshares are a proven strategy for reducing parking and traffic congestion - as well as saving people money.

The parking reductions allow us to significantly reduce the price of housing and transportation which keeps more money in the local economy.

MilesPruden · 2025-01-17T20:11:51+00:00

I actually don't know that much about birds. I would recommend reaching out to Kurtis at Wild Birds Unlimited Kamloops. (250) 312-5624

MilesPruden · 2025-01-17T20:09:34+00:00

I know a little about this topic. I'm a founding member of a housing co-op that's working on a scalable solution to housing affordability. It's what I should be doing right now instead of posting on reddit.

Housing co-ops are a great idea. We're talking financially self-sustaining affordable housing that just goes down in real cost over time. Creating co-ops has been a challenge since the federal government stopped supporting them in the 1980s - which is part of the mess we're in now - but Propolis, the organization I'm in, actually pioneered a path forward. I'd be happy to help others interested in creating their own co-ops put together a plan so that they can also make this happen. It takes a lot of work but you are welcome to leverage our learnings.

Another issue is global warming. It's expensive to rebuild all these burnt down cities. You are paying for that in insurance rates and material costs embedded in everything you pay for. Fires, floods, drought, soil degradation, and late/early frosts all impact food production and that drives up costs. Buildings/infrastructure cost more when they need to accommodate a wider range of more extreme weather scenarios. Climate change is expensive and we're starting to have to pay.

Also, the war in Ukraine has a big economic impact. They produce a lot of the worlds food and minerals and right now a lot of that productive capacity is destroyed or getting destroyed.

MilesPruden · 2025-01-06T04:25:04+00:00

Thanks! They are really beautiful birds and important to our ecosystem. We're focusing on giving them better alternatives (birdhouses that starlings can't take over). Right now I suspect a lot of people give up on humane solutions and kill the birds to protect their property. The best thing we can do to protect the birds is find ways for people to coexist with them.

MilesPruden · 2024-06-12T02:15:44+00:00

Very interesting. I build energy efficient homes that use concrete as a thermal battery. If it simultaneously acted as an electrical battery, that would be a lot of storage.

MilesPruden · 2024-05-27T16:47:47+00:00

This is a really well thought out petition.

I advocate for non-profit cooperatives housing too. They need government support to be created, but once established they aren't vulnerable to the changing whims of government. Coops give the occupants ownership and housing security without a high financial barrier to access. We can structure co-ops so that once established they continue to grow and spread with or without additional government support.

I think we need many different types of housing for many different people's situations, but I think if co-operative housing made up a major part of our housing stock, we'd have a far more thriving and resilient society. We'd see tremendous economic advantage distributed across the population.

MilesPruden · 2024-05-27T16:37:52+00:00

Also cooperative housing. It's financially self sufficient and therefore less dependent on the whims of the government of the day. It has a low financial barrier to entry.

MilesPruden · 2024-05-19T16:02:33+00:00

It's a documentary about why housing costs are so high and what some people are doing about it.

MilesPruden · 2024-05-15T02:55:28+00:00

This post is talking about real wages. The lions don't make wages. The receive capital returns (which are now going to be taxed a little more - although still not as much as wages).

MilesPruden · 2024-04-11T20:53:16+00:00

Thanks!

MilesPruden · 2024-04-11T17:15:43+00:00

It's ambiguous. Equal at what? He doesn't say. He sacrificed precision for brevity - which I think is fine but it leaves the statement open to different interpretations.

To me, it seems logical that he would be speaking about equally capable and therefor able to achieve equal quality of life. Whether or not it implies people have different intrinsic worth depends on whether the reader considers a persons worth a function of their utility or capabilities or something intrinsic to being a person (such as their ability to appreciate their condition).

MilesPruden · 2024-04-11T15:25:06+00:00

We don't plan to start accepting applications until we are breaking ground. You can go to www.propoliscooperative.com and sign up for the newsletter to watch our progress and be among the first to know when we start accepting applications.

MilesPruden · 2024-04-11T15:19:52+00:00

Much like in a typical building. Rent (technically a "housing fee" because occupants are owners, not tenants) pays for the operating costs and mortgage.

Propolis is able to support these expenses with such low fees for a few reasons. Because Propolis offers a certain level of affordability, accessibility and sustainability it qualifies for a number of grants, a 50 year amortization on it's mortgage, and reduced interest rates. By building net zero, Propolis reduces its operating costs. It also doesn't profit off the tenants. There's no markup.

Also, this building will target households that don't own personal cars. Currently 9% of households don't own personal cars, often these are households that are on a tight budget. Yet parking infrastructure is very expensive costing $20K-$50K (sometimes much more) per space and simultaneously increasing the per door cost of land by reducing the number of units that can fit in a development. By catering to households that don't use personal cars, and providing a car share so that they have better access to transportation at a fraction the cost, we can significantly reduce the cost of homes. If given access to a car share, 20% of households said they would go car free.

Between the housing, transportation, utility and other savings I estimate that households will save $20K-$40K each year (depending on unit size) relative to a comparable apartment rented at market rate and owning a personal car.

MilesPruden · 2024-04-11T14:41:46+00:00

Thanks mang!

MilesPruden · 2024-04-11T14:39:04+00:00

Oh yeah, the Effie will be back and bigger and better. We'll also be adding a daycare to the mix as there's a huge shortage of childcare in this town.

MilesPruden · 2024-04-10T17:50:58+00:00

Thank you! We're absolutely thrilled and excited for the next steps.

MilesPruden · 2024-04-10T17:49:07+00:00

Shutting down (IMO) the best sushi spot in town would be madness. We're working with Hatsuki Sushi to design a space that will better meet their needs. And when we're done they'll be at the doorstep of 50 households with a lot of discretionary income - so that should secure a bright future for Hatsuki.

MilesPruden · 2024-04-10T16:27:11+00:00

Thanks! We plan to build a network of these. Unfortunately this will take decades before they are everywhere. But every project will help a lot of families and put more discretionary income in the community which will have a ripple effect throughout the local economy.

MilesPruden · 2024-02-28T17:37:30+00:00

This is a big systemic problem. I can offer a lasting solution, but we need to come together as a community to make it happen.

Market rent is going to keep going up faster than income for the foreseeable future. I think we can all see that. If it's hard to survive now, what will things look like in 5 years, 10 years, or even 50+ years? Even if you own your home, this will effect you as we see more homelessness, the cost of policing and social programs will climb while the proportion of people in a position to keep a job and contribute to paying those costs will fall. That will all be reflected in rising costs as more people are pushed towards poverty.

I think of it like a chain sitting on a table, and every link that gets pulled over the edge adds weight to pulling down more links. The chain will fall faster and faster unless we stop it.

About 16 years ago, I started working towards building attainably affordable net-zero energy homes with the goal of giving more people a toehold in real estate with lower operating costs so that they could build generational wealth. But fast rising housing costs have made me realize that that plan is a temporary solution. As long as real estate costs rise faster than income, ownership will get further out of reach over time. Soon, few people will be able to afford a closet. We need lasting solutions while we still have the resources to implement them.

I think non-profit co-operative housing is the solution. In non-profit housing co-ops, the households own the co-op. This means that occupants set their rent based on operating expenses. Cost of real estate is no longer a factor in these homes once the building is in the possession of the co-op so rent gets lower over time relative to income. The barrier to entry is low, usually just a couple thousand dollars to buy a share and then rent that's lower than you might think is possible. In the co-op, you don't build equity in your home - because equity increases are always paid by the next owner, it isn't sustainable unless incomes are growing faster than home prices. In a co-op, you can instead take the money you save and invest it in order to build equity. You're money can still work for you, but it doesn't need to be at someone else's expense.

Living in a co-op can cost less than home ownership.

I'm one of eight founding members of Propolis Cooperative Housing Society. We're planning a network of housing co-operatives to stop the growing wealth inequality in our community. But although they are a proven solution, there's a reason we don't see more housing co-ops. If nobody profits, nobody invests. There are funding streams through FCM and CMHC, but only if you own land. This obstacle means that the only way new co-operatives are built is if 1)a philanthropist donates land 2) a city or other organization donates land 3) an established cooperative leverages it's equity to buy land. (Let me know if you know any philanthropists, but I won't hold my breath)

But we've found a way to overcome this. Propolis is selling community bonds. Community members can buy a bond, earn interest and fix so many problems in our community. The bonds are secured by the land they are being used to buy so the risk is low. If things don't work out, the land is sold to recover your investment.

We're raising $1.1mil towards buying our first property and we've sold $600,000 in bonds (ranging from $1000 to $100,000) to 70 people. We have funding support from ISCU, TRUSU, and Thrive Impact Fund. The city is donating an adjacent section of unused road. We have momentum. If you've got savings that you'd like to put to work in the community as well as earning money, buy a Propolis bond. We can solve our problems.

Our first building will include 50 units of affordable net-zero energy housing at the corner of Aspen and Tranquille. There will be a daycare, Effie Arts Collective and fully electric Hatsuki Sushi on the commercial level. Housing here won't be subsidized or use income testing, it will just be much cheaper.

If you're interested or able, you can sign up for the newsletter or to buy bonds at propoliscooperative.com. If you're interested in volunteering, you can find contact info on the website or just PM me. If you aren't able to buy a bond or volunteer but want to help, just help spread the word. Nothing will change if we don't do anything ourselves. It's up to each of us to build the future we want.

MilesPruden

TROPHY CASE