CONSTRUCTION BUILDS US ALL UP
Housing: A livable Vancouver requires a strong economy — and a long-range, regional perspective
When it comes to compact, walkable and livable urban development, the planners in this community wrote the book: “Vancouverism” is admired in planning schools across the continent, and the planning principles developed here are emulated around the world. Yet there are still those who are outraged at the approval of every rezoning, as if the city and region that we all love is on the brink of developmental disaster.
There was an example of this in these pages recently, an opinion piece titled “Let’s plan for people, not profit.” That headline indicates a first, critical mistake: Far from being in conflict, people and profit need to go hand in hand. There is no way we can have a healthy and sustainable community without a robust economy. We need to look after both. The writer’s principal complaint is that the City of Vancouver is too ambitious in its growth targets, stating “there is no urgent lack of supply for new market housing capacity in the city,” and the city is “actually overbuilding by approximately 2,000 units in each five-year census period.”
The market disagrees. The Urban Development Institute’s 2014 State of the Market report (which is compiled independently by the professionals at Urban Analytics), shows the current ratio of new residents per housing start in Metro Vancouver is 2.1, which is on the tight side of the range necessary to maintain stable market conditions (between 2.0 and 3.0). At 2.1, the advantage goes to sellers and landlords. At the same time, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s 2014 market rental report said parts of Vancouver — specifically the West End and downtown — have vacancy rates as low as 0.3 per cent, while the city as a whole has a rental vacancy rate of just 0.5 per cent. Ask anyone trying to find affordable accommodations if that is evidence of overbuilding.
Developers don’t choose Vancouver to foist empty apartments on the citizenry. And they don’t design multi-family buildings to offend those who imagine cities should only be short and squat. They build in Vancouver because that’s where people want to live.
If we really care about climate change — and if we really want to protect green space — concentrating development around excellent public transportation is by far the best choice.
Consider Marine Gateway, the new community rising at Southwest Marine Drive and Cambie. It will provide 415 new housing units within a two-hectare block that will also include a host of commercial and community services. If buyers in that price range had been looking for a conventional single-family alternative, they would have been forced to the most distant suburb, where new construction would have consumed more than 40 hectares of farmland or forest that now may never need to be disturbed.
City planners could also look at small scale densification, where single-family lots could be rezoned into triplexes, townhouses and smaller homes, for example. These zoning changes would accommodate more homes for more people on already developed land.
There are certainly some difficult planning issues facing residents, developers, planners and politicians in Vancouver, as in all its neighbouring municipalities. We can always work harder to make sure that every voice is heard and honoured in the process.
But it’s crucial that we consider all the implications of our decisions. It’s crucial that we support the construction sector, the second-largest employer in British Columbia. Above all, it’s crucial that we work to build ample, affordable housing where there is highest demand and the lowest environmental impact.
We in the development industry understand that we only make a profit if we serve people effectively. And we do that best when we all work together, each recognizing and honouring the role of our partners and neighbours.