Co-op homes to provide affordable dwellings
Initiative to provide homes for 2,000 residents making low to middle incomes
The City of Vancouver is beefing up its long-term rental stock by allowing development of 1,039 co-op homes on seven city-owned sites, from the Downtown Eastside to the new River District south of Marine Drive.
And the non-profit developer is touting this model as the answer to Metro Vancouver’s rental housing shortage.
The co-op housing, styled after the co-op rentals built in the 1980s and ’90s, but self-sustaining, will provide homes for 2,000 Vancouverites who are part of households making low to middle incomes of between $30,000 and $80,000 a year.
The rents will likely range from $750 for a one-bedroom to $1,800 to $2,000 for two- and three-bedroom units, said Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson at a news conference in Yaletown, against a backdrop of towering condos with rents or mortgages out of reach for those earning minimum or average wages in Vancouver.
He said the goal was to provide affordable housing for those who work in lower-paying jobs in the city so they can “live without anxiety” among “rapidly escalating rents.”
The city has provided the land, worth $130 million in assessed value, and the value of the properties once built will be $425 million. The Community Land Trust, a non-profit society established by the Co-operative Housing Federation of B.C., is the developer and will raise capital through socially conscious funds.
“This is a model that’s perfect for municipalities because municipalities have the land and the zoning power and we have the capacity to develop and access to capital,” said Thom Armstrong, executive director of the Co-operative Housing Federation of B.C. and of the Community Land Trust.
This model of co-op development is an improvement over the co-ops built decades ago because those rely on ongoing government subsidies and some are struggling to manage the land trust and provide proper building maintenance, Armstrong said in an interview.
He said he would encourage other municipalities to turn city land over to community trust to build affordable housing, to provide the city with permanent affordable housing, build diverse communities and provide preservation and stewardship of city lands in perpetuity.
Co-op residents, like those in existing co-ops, will purchase a membership upon move-in (refundable upon move-out) and must volunteer to help maintain the co-op, on the gardening or social activities committees, for example.
The buildings will be designed, built, financed, operated and maintained by the Community Land Trust, which submitted the
winning bid for the project, and will be managed by existing co-ops or non-profits.
The rents will be below market and tied to income.
In March 2018, the average B.C. wage was $947 a week, or $49,000 a year. At the recommended housing cost of 30 per cent of gross pay, that worker could afford $1,230 a month in rent or mortgage.
But workers in the accommodation and food services sector earned less than half that, or $463 a week, $24,000 a year, and should pay no more than $600 in housing costs. Retail workers earned $724 a week, or $38,000 a year, allowing $940 for rent.
A worker earning a minimum wage of $15 an hour, to be in place by 2021 in B.C., would earn $600 a week, or $31,000 a year, and could afford $780 in rent.
The buildings are expected to be ready for move-in by 2021.
The average rent in April was $2,010 for a one-bedroom and $3,200 for a two-bedroom in Vancouver, according to Padmapper. com.