Metro Vancouver mayors discuss affordable housing strategy
High housing prices and low rental vacancy rates have prompted Metro Vancouver to consider ways to increase the number of rental units it owns and operates in the region.
The regional authority, which provides 3,500 rental housing units for 10,000 tenants in 49 properties across the Lower Mainland, has traditionally focused on maintaining its holdings.
However, the current market, combined with new policies and initiatives from federal and provincial governments have caused Metro Vancouver to shift its focus to development.
“This creates an urgency for action, and opens up new opportunities for municipal governments,” Elisa Campbell, Metro Vancouver’s director of regional planning and electoral area services, said at a special Mayors Committee meeting on Friday.
It’s anticipated that the regional population will increase by an average of 35,000 people per year until 2040. To meet this population growth, the region will need an additional 18,000 units of housing per year for the next 10 years, 5,500 of which will be rental units. Campbell said that is the “bare minimum” that will be required.
“Very little purpose-built housing has been built over the last 10 to 15 years,” she said. “There’s already a gap.”
Metro Vancouver plans to use this information and other data to come up with a target number of rental units to be provided directly and indirectly by Metro. The target can be achieved a number of ways.
One is through the redevelopment of Metro Vancouver Housing Corporation sites, such as what is happening at Heather Place in Vancouver. The current site has 86 units and the redevelopment, which is still awaiting permits, will provide 200 to 300 units.