Regional chair supports Vancouver plan to make housing more affordable

PORT MOODY (NEWS1130) – It won’t be approved until Tuesday, but Vancouver’s 10-year plan to make housing more affordable is already having a region-wide impact.

The chair of Metro Vancouver’s Housing Committee, Mike Clay, says the need for higher density in areas normally occupied by single detached houses isn’t just a Vancouver problem.

“It’s what we’re all trying to do. Really look into these older, established, single family neighbourhoods and figure out how we can densify them without being overwhelming…. It’s a good model for the rest of the region. I think it takes some of the pressure off smaller cities like ourselves in trying to deal with extensive growth.”

Clay, who’s the mayor of Port Moody, adds it’s no secret more homes need to be built close to transit hubs — like the Evergreen Line, which links his city with Burnaby and Coquitlam.

“Developers want to be there and there’s a market there, so that’s new for us. Vancouver’s had those benefits in the past and we’re just getting them now, but I think we’re doing a good job of transit-oriented development here.”

Clay expects plans boosting density will motivate developers — even if they don’t like playing by new rules.

“I think Vancouver’s policies and their social policies have gotten ahead of their ability to deliver sometimes, but I don’t think it’s anything that should send developers running for the door. I’d say it’s relatively developer-friendly, as long as everybody’s willing to accept together we build community and the developers are starting to come around to that.”

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Clay says he especially supports plans to build more apartments and row houses in neighbourhoods traditionally occupied by single detached homes.

“As people grow up, there’s not enough housing for them, so they have to move away. So, bringing in smaller, higher density apartments, condo’s, rentals, seniors’ housing — this allows our community to be a more complete community.”

He adds region-wide efforts are being made to build more housing along transit routes like the Evergreen Line and Vancouver’s been a leader for other communities like Port Moody where new rental buildings are going up for the first time in more than 30 years.

“When you densify around the stations, it gives you an ability to really protect the character of the other neighbourhoods.”

He says the Metro Vancouver Housing Corporation owns and operates nearly 50 rental sites across the Lower Mainland providing homes for more than nine thousand people.

“So, in the outlying areas, we are smaller cities. We have different challenges I think and we don’t have some of the infrastructure that they already have in place to serve these new residents, so densification is beneficial when you’ve already got everything there.”

Earlier this year, more than 3,600 people were counted as homeless in Metro Vancouver — up 30 per cent from three years ago.

Angela Marie Macdougall, executive director of the Battered Women’s Support Services, says survivors of spousal abuse are usually ignored when it comes to ensuring they have access to affordable safe housing.

“The housing crisis in Vancouver has had an incredibly detrimental effect. Women have had to choose between homelessness or living with an abusive partner and that is not a choice that women should have to make when dealing with violence.”

She adds some women choose to stay in an abusive relationship rather than search for housing they can afford on their own and many seeking support from her organization are forced to ‘couch surf’ with their children at the homes of friends and family.