PROVANCOUVER
Anew Vancouver civic party is suggesting that condo projects should not be allowed around transit stations. According to David Chen, the key founder and mayoral nominee of new municipal entity Provancouver, developments in transit locations should be for affordable rental housing only.
Chen noted that real-estate speculation is high in market-housing developments around transit. “The problem is when you have speculation…people that buy, they actually don’t use transit,” Chen told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview.
Chen and Provancouver are advancing a policy option that’s been raised before.
In 2016, Metro Vancouver planners Raymond Kan and Margaret Eberle prepared a report in connection with the regional government’s transitoriented rental-housing study.
“Accommodating renter households, in particular those making less than $50,000 per year, in transitoriented locations is not only key to developing diverse, vibrant, and complete communities, but it is also key to maximizing transit ridership and the value for money of transit and housing affordability investments,” the report stated.
Kan and Eberle noted that “transit usage rates for renters consistently exceed that for owners, even after controlling for density, household income, and location.”
“For renters specifically, transit usage rates generally rise as income declines, but transit usage rates remain generally flat for owners,” the authors wrote. “Low ($30,000$50,000) and very low (less than $30,000) income renters have the highest transit usage rates.”
The two Metro Vancouver staff members also cited a hypothetical scenario of a transit corridor that can accommodate 10,000 new households.
According to Kan and Eberle, “a shift from a scenario with 100 percent owner households to a scenario where 60 percent of households are owners and 40 percent are renter households translates to an increase in annual transit commute trips in the corridor by 10-12 percent.
“Further, if all the renter households were making under $50,000, then annual transit commute trips could increase by an additional 11-14 percentage points.”
Kan and Eberle made a key conclusion: “The findings make evident that the creation of affordable rental housing in transit-oriented locations will create a reliable base of transit customers for the regional transit system.
“Secondly, these transit customers will likely benefit from improved access to jobs, schools, and other destinations,” they continued. “Finally, these transit customers may benefit from a resultant reduced overall housing and transportation cost burden relative to their income levels.”
A new rapid-transit line is set to be built in Vancouver, the Broadway extension for the Millennium Line. The $2.83-billion project will have six stations.
Provancouver launched in April this year. Soon after, it announced a merger with another fledgling party called Your Political Party Vancouver, although it retained its name.
Chen, a financial planner, was born and raised in Vancouver. He and his wife are parents to three young children; the family lives in Strathcona. He said that the rental-only model around transit stations is one of two key housing policies that his party wants to offer to Vancouver voters in the October 20 municipal election.
The other is a 50-50 split between market homes and rental housing in future developments.
“Provancouver is committed to moving forward on a plan that all new developments will have at least 50 percent or more as rental units,” Chen said.
Chen is in for what looks like a tight race for mayor. SFU academic Shauna Sylvester and Burnaby South NDP MP Kennedy Stewart have announced that they are running as independent candidates.
Popular Green councillor Adriane Carr has not made a final decision about the mayoral contest.
Councillor Hector Bremner seems likely to pursue his mayoral ambitions. The Non-partisan Association, which rejected Bremner’s application to seek the party’s nomination, will choose a candidate from among park commissioner John Coupar, financial analyst Glen Chernen, and businessman Ken Sim on June 3.
The nomination of the ruling Vision Vancouver party is being sought by Squamish hereditary chief Ian Campbell and tech entrepreneur Taleeb Noormohamed.
A new group called Coalition Vancouver is backing former Vancouver South Conservative MP Wai Young for mayor.