Helping rescue endangered homes
Old but still good: Energy-efficiency and preservation are dual goals of new pilot project
They say every little bit helps when it comes to a crisis.
For many Vancouverites, the most pressing crisis in the city today is the rampant decimation of its old housing stock, of its 100-year-old arts and crafts homes in Point Grey, of its midcentury bungalows in Dunbar, of its stately heritage mansions in Shaughnessy.
In recent years, the city has been grappling with off-the-charts real estate prices, the lack of affordable housing for the middle class and a crushing wave of deep-pocket buyers, both onshore and off, who prefer their pricey plots of dirt to support all that is new and big, and thus have no compunction about sending an old house to the landfill and replacing it with a character-less behemoth.
Conservation groups, neighbourhood committees and heritage enthusiasts are working, amid much controversy and debate, to change the civic rules and the culture of destruction.
The official initiatives to help stem the tide include the city’s Heritage Action Plan protecting pre-1940s homes through demolition disincentives.
Council is also debating a temporary moratorium on demolitions in the First Shaughnessy area.
Incentives also work, which is why the Vancouver Heritage Foundation this month announced a joint one-year pilot project with the city’s Sustainability Group and non-profit City Green Solutions to provide grants to owners of older homes looking to make improvements while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, in lieu of knocking down and building new.
As VHF executive director Judith Mosley puts it: “The sustainable approach is to upgrade and retain existing homes.”
It’s an ethos long espoused by the VHF, which was founded in 1992 and has been offering a variety of heritage conservation grants since 1999.
The VHF is also about raising awareness, which it does throughout the year with workshops and home tours, including its annual heritage house tour and, this Saturday, its 10th annual mid- century modern tour (which includes the 1962 Danto residence designed by the late Arthur Erickson, as well as a tour of Erickson’s own home and gardens).
The VHF knows all too well how hard it is to wage the heritage retention battle in a city such as Vancouver, where economics and demographics dictate growth, where about 1,000 demolition permits are issued every year and where many buyers of pricey west-side real estate don’t share an affinity for historic homes.
It’s also a reality that there are few resources for homeowners who do want to live in and preserve an older home, but are struggling with the costs of restoring and upgrading century-old structures.
Supporting the notion that the greenest house is a house already built, the $3,000 Heritage Energy Retrofit Grant is funded by the city and available for up to 20 homes. The money can be used for everything from a new heating system to windows, doors and insulation.
To qualify for the grant, the houses must be built pre-1940 and, if they are post-1940, such as a mid-century modern, they must already be on the Vancouver Heritage Register, which lists about 2,200 houses.
Once approved, an energy adviser conducts an evaluation of the home and makes recommendations, the goal being improvements that don’t require major intervention. For instance, if a homeowner wants to keep original windows that are esthetically valuable but not energy-efficient, the addition of storm windows would be an option.
One application under consideration, says Mosley, is for a 1910 Grandview-Woodland house that its owners are renovating. Insulation and windows are on their upgrade list.
“We really want to encourage people to look at making improvements to a house that really aren’t costly, with the view that these homes can continue to be good, solid homes.”
And, yes, it’s easy to say $60,000 worth of grants may sound insignificant and the project may just be a pilot, and that the city could be a little more generous with its taxpayer dollars on this issue, but the VHF knows baby steps still get you somewhere.
“Part of what the Vancouver Heritage Foundation is about,” says Mosley, “is to shift the culture to appreciate and enjoy the historic buildings we have, and work with them rather than replacing them.”