Strategies to boost rental housing and end homelessness are likely to spark some of the hottest exchanges during Vancouver’s 2011 campaign for mayor.
Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson told Business in Vancouver June 29 that, besides staging a successful Olympics and keeping property tax increases low, one of his top three accomplishments as mayor has been to “reduce street homelessness by 82% this term through our housing and shelter initiatives.”
But Non-Partisan Association (NPA) challenger and councillor Suzanne Anton immediately attacked the Vision Vancouver leader’s record of reducing homelessness and his main strategy to encourage rental-housing construction.
She also takes credit for initiating laneway and other housing initiatives Robertson has recently championed.
“He ran on eliminating ‘homelessness,’ not ‘street homelessness.’ He’s changed his language since he got elected,” Anton said. “Solving street homelessness is moving people into shelters. Solving homelessness is finding permanent housing for them.”
Anton differs most from Robertson on the issue of market rental housing, which she says is not a city responsibility. If the city has a role in encouraging rental housing, she said, it should be to provide developers with adequate zoned tower heights so construction is viable in areas such as the Cambie corridor.
Council voted May 10 to increase density in the Cambie corridor to 12 storeys, although higher buildings are permitted around Oakridge Centre and near Marine Drive. Anton wants higher tower heights than that and will “absolutely” revisit the building heights in that corridor if she wins the election in November.
She complains that Robertson’s short-term incentives for rental housing (STIR) program gives developers subsidies if they build housing that is rented at market rates. Anton said one approved STIR project at the corner of Bidwell and Davie streets grants developer Millennium Development Corp. $5.5 million worth of subsidies to build 49 rental housing units. The project also includes 85 strata units.
“That $5.5 million could have gone to the Vancouver Aquatic Centre, which is a city responsibility. It could have gone to a new library or new park space. Those are city responsibilities,” Anton said. “Of every dollar that you spend in taxes, only $0.08 comes to the city. $0.42 goes to the province and $0.50 goes to the federal government. We as a city should not be doing the province’s work.”
Anton accepts that the city can step on Victoria’s toes when it comes to helping fund child care. But she said paying developers to build rental housing crosses the line. Instead, Anton advocates a market-driven approach, under which developers are free to build strata developments.
Realtors say strata councils increasingly allow suite owners to rent their units because it raises unit values. The 372-unit Capitol Residences project at 833 Seymour Street was completed earlier this year without STIR subsidies. Its marketer, Rennie Marketing sales associate Danny Chow, estimated that about 45% of the units sold so far have been to investors who rent the suites. Most new developments have a similar proportion of investor-owned units, he said.
“The marketplace has created those rental units [at Capitol Residences],” Anton stressed. “Why does the mayor want to put a whole bunch of city money into rental when we have so many demands on our limited dollars?”
Robertson counters that STIR is valuable as part of an overall housing strategy.
“I want to focus on affordable housing and addressing the low- and middle-income housing options, which I think are crucial for our workforce,” he said. “That means more rental housing and more creative approaches to build rental and affordable ownership models. We’ve tried some pilot projects this term. Laneway housing, secondary suites and STIR, which has about 1,000 units of rental in the works.”