Renters get their due in new city housing strategy

While the buying, selling and owning of Vancouver real estate has traditionally received greater attention, much of the city’s new 10-year housing strategy focuses on renting.

Tenant-protection measures in the new strategy, which council adopted Wednesday, were welcomed by housing advocates who say while renters make up slightly more than half of Vancouver households, they had previously been marginalized in conversations about the city’s housing crisis.

“This strategy offers a lot more for renters than the previous strategy,” said Karen Sawatzky, chairwoman of Vancouver’s Renters Advisory Committee, a volunteer position.

“The strategy was definitely in need of an update . ... Renters have

inserted themselves into the conversation, and the city is responding to that, to their credit.”

Sawatzky was pleased to see the strategy includes high-priority “quick-start actions” such as the city creating a tenant-protection manager position, and changing zoning to allow for collective housing, defined as more than five unrelated people sharing a home.

The need for the tenant-protection manager is made more urgent in Vancouver’s tight rental market, Sawatzky said, at a time when B.C.’s renter-protection agency, the Residential Tenancy Branch, has seen an increased number of calls in recent years.

At the same time, staffing levels and turnover appear to be an issue at the RTB, as The Vancouver Sun reported earlier this year.

David Hutniak, CEO of LandlordBC, which represents the rental housing industry, also addressed council Wednesday in support of the strategy.

Council voted Wednesday to direct staff to begin the immediate implementation of the moderate-income rental housing pilot program, through which the city will incentivize the private sector to develop purpose-built rental buildings, at least 20 per cent of which must be permanently secured at affordable rents for people earning between $30,000 and $80,000 a year.

Incentives will include granting additional density for projects, or parking requirement relaxations.

It will be up to building owners and managers to select renters for the affordable units, but the city would monitor to ensure the program is being used for its intended purpose and rented to people of appropriate income levels, said Dan Garrison, Vancouver’s assistant director of housing policy.

“This is absolutely a new idea for us, where we’re trying to deliver rent-controlled, secured, affordable rental housing in the private market,” Garrison said.

The pilot project is being rolled out, with the city accepting inquiries starting Jan. 1, to determine its viability and popularity, Garrison said, and development industry figures have indicated to the city their interest in the program.

The strategy also raises the idea of creating rental-only zones in the city, which would require legislation from the province.

Architect and planner Michael Geller said while he believes the city’s goals are laudable, he’s concerned rental-only zones could lead to unintended effects.

“Throughout Vancouver’s history, what we’ve tried to create are diverse neighbourhoods,” Geller said. “I still think it’s better to have a mix of ownership, and rental and different incomes, rather than, say, just rental … I think this kind of ghettoization — and that’s what it is, it’s a form of ghettoization — is potentially inappropriate.”

Garrison said that “is a concern we’ve heard from others.”

But, Garrison added, “When I hear words like ghettoization, I think about the West End, where well over 80 per cent of the households are renters and it’s widely regarded as one of the most successful high-density residential neighbourhoods in Canada, if not North America or beyond. We understand the concern, but we’re not sure that renters, by nature, living together in high density is necessarily a problem.”