Elena Park
Verified WriterLocal News Editor, Vancouver
Vancouver-born reporter covering Metro Vancouver policy, housing affordability, and small business.
Biography
Elena Park grew up in Burnaby and has reported on Metro Vancouver civic life since 2019. Her coverage focuses on the intersection of housing affordability, transit policy, and small-business viability — the day-to-day decisions of families and operators who have to live with the policy headlines other publications only summarize.
She is a graduate of the UBC School of Journalism (M.J., 2019) and previously freelanced for Vancouver Sun and Tyee. Elena reads every BC Assembly Hansard transcript that touches housing or transit.
Latest stories by Elena Park
Surrey Built 6,488 Homes in a Year. Vancouver Managed 80% of Its Target.
Surrey is outbuilding Vancouver under BC's Housing Supply Act — and the gap reveals a structural fight over approvals, federal dollars, and where Metro Vancouver's political gravity is shifting.
Surrey Built 53% More Homes Than Required. Vancouver Didn't.
Surrey gamed federal incentives, cut permit fees, and blew past its provincial housing target. Vancouver missed by 20%. The political fallout is just starting.
TransLink's $600M Deficit Hinges on a Law That Doesn't Exist Yet
BC's promised 2027 revenue tool is undefined, yet every suburban expansion and federal dollar unlock depends on it. Here's what the math actually shows.
$2.19 Billion in Federal Transit Cash — and TransLink Is Still Broke
Ottawa's Canada Public Transit Fund looks like a rescue. It isn't. Here's why TransLink's $600M structural deficit survives every announcement.
BC Small Businesses Owe USD Debt — at a 22-Year Low Loonie
The CAD hit 0.696 USD in February 2025, turning every unhedged USD obligation into a slow-motion insolvency trigger. Here's the math BC operators aren't running.
$600K to Get In: Vancouver's Two-Tier Immigrant Entrepreneur Trap
Ottawa closed the Self-Employed Program. BC halved its PNP spots. Work-permit founders are building businesses with no PR runway — and nobody in Victoria is saying so.
500 Spots, $600K Floor: BC Just Became the Only Door In
Ottawa killed the federal Start-Up Visa on January 1, 2026. Now BC PNP holds a monopoly it was never built to handle — and Vancouver's founder pipeline is paying the price.