Category Archives: BC Politics

#BC + VanPoli | An Update on the Affordable Housing File in B.C.

May 23, 2019#VanPoli Civic Politics, BC Politics, News, Politics, VancouverRaymond Tomlin

BC NDP announces 20,000 affordable homes either completed or under construction in B.C. in 2019

After 16 years of despair under a too often far right-of-centre B.C. Liberal government where, in their final full year in office, 120 children died in the care of the province, while another 791 children in care were critically injured — all while the Christy Clark government left a $2.7 billion surplus for what would turn out to be an incoming BC NDP government — whether it was Gordon Campbell or Clark, the B.C. Liberal government proved day in and day out that they were dedicated not to the interests of the people of British Columbia (and certainly not the most vulnerable among us), but to the monied corporate titans and financial backers who, working collectively, built barely one unit of affordable housing amidst an unprecedented and ever worsening housing crisis in Canada’s third largest city and region.
Whether it’s the B.C. Liberals — as they’re presently constituted (VanRamblings awaits the day when Vancouver City Councillor Sarah Kirby-Yung is leader of the party, and Premier, to redefine fiscally and socially responsible, nominally right-of-centre government in B.C.) — or Andrew Scheer’s ultra-conservative Conservative party, make no mistake, right-of-centre parties & politicians are rarely on the side of the 95% of Canadians who earn less than $100,000 a year, which is to say not on your side.
BC NDP Government Has Built, or Will Build, 20,000 Affordable Homes in BC in 2019 | A Further 94,000 Homes Are on Their Way

Here’s the link to detail on the BC Homes graphic B.C. Housing Minister Selina Robinson presents above, including indigenous, community, student, regional, supportive, affordable rental and other housing currently completed, or under construction, in B.C.

Whether it be Chris Gailus and Global BC, the news team at CTV Vancouver, or as the local paper of record, the Vancouver Sun — or the Globe and Mail, or their even further right-of-centre brethren at the National Post — make no mistake, you’re not going to turn on your TV, pick up a local newspaper or surf to their online sites and read about the 20,000 affordable housing homes that have been completed, or are in process of being completed, in 2019, during the next year, or in early 2021.
God knows that corporate-owned media — none of which endorsed the BC NDP in 2017 — are interested in the least in reporting out to you the news that really matters: that in British Columbia citizens have a government in Victoria that actually cares about working people, and is committed to the realization of the construction and completion of 114,000 affordable homes, $10-a-day child care, and the construction of 24-hour-a-day, open and accessible urgent care centres in every municipality across B.C. — more than 780,000 British Columbians (that’s almost 17% of the population) don’t have a family doctor, the previous Liberal government abandoning their plan to link every person to a doctor by 2015 as “unachievable”.

Construction on this 109-unit affordable rental building to be completed in early 2021. Location: 3185 Riverwalk Avenue, in the East Fraserlands area of Vancouver.

Funded by the British Columbia government under their Deepening Affordability Fund, this past December B.C. Housing Minister Selina Robinson announced the construction of 109 low-cost, affordable homes at 3185 Riverwalk Avenue in the East Fraserlands area of Vancouver — a five-storey project that will offer 7 studios, 30 one-bedroom, 48 two-bedroom & 24 three-bedroom homes + a shared amenity space — for seniors, families & those on fixed incomes, not a social, but an affordable rental, housing project, where tenants will pay no more than 30% of their income in rent.
Click on this link, and scroll down to the Deepening Affordability Fund section for more information on 490 more homes being built through the fund in Burnaby, Kamloops, Saanich, Port Alberni, Terrace and Courtenay.
In addition, by clicking on the link you will find detail on homes being built under the Supportive Housing Fund, as well as the Rapid Response to Homelessness, the Regional Housing First and the Student Loan Housing programmes, the Indigenous Housing Fund & the two projects being built as part of the Housing Hub programme, for a total of 20,000 new homes.

Construction of 231 low-cost, affordable homes at 58 West Hastings underway.

In March of this year, the B.C. government provided a list of 25 affordable housing projects, currently under construction in Vancouver, to Vancouver Courier civic affairs journalist Mike Howell — a total of 2,450 new affordable rental homes, including a $14.8 million, 74-unit project at 6390 Crown Place that will be operated by the Musqueam Indian Band, and a $90 million 231-unit project at 58 West Hastings that will be operated — including $30 million in funding — by the Vancouver Chinatown Foundation.
The bottom line: all is not lost, there is a government in Victoria that is on our side, and although the provincial government may not be moving fast enough for some on their election promises, remember (as folks were wont to say in times past): “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
The same very well might be said about our current Vancouver City Council, each of whom VanRamblings knows well, and who we know to be persons of grit, integrity & social responsibility who are also very much on our side.
If by 2022 (the next civic election) Vancouver City Councillors have not followed through on their commitment to the alleviation of the affordable housing crisis, they will become — as some have written — a one-term civic government, replaced by Councillors who can get the job done.
But you only have to know Christine Boyle, Lisa Dominato, Sarah Kirby-Yung, Pete Fry, Rebecca Bligh, Michael Wiebe, Jean Swanson, Colleen Hardwick, Adriane Carr and Melissa De Genova to know that this remarkably capable and utterly unique group of change makers are not about to let you down, that they’re on the case, with their heads screwed on straight and much sooner than later, they’ll come through for all of us.

#VanPoli Civic Politics | Faith Groups + Affordable Housing | Part 4

May 16, 2019#VanPoli Civic Politics, BC Politics, Canada, Essay, News, Park Board, Vancouver, Vancouver Votes 2018, VanRamblingsRaymond Tomlin

Joming Lau, a City of Vancouver Planning Analyst and member of Vancouver city’s Community Serving Spaces Team, and his colleague James O’Neill, a Cultural Planner with the city, working in the Cultural Spaces and Infrastructure Division of the Planning Department — and also a member the city’s Community Serving Spaces Team — have been kind in posting to VanRamblings the core document informing the conduct of the Tuesday, May 7th, 2019 affordable housing forum held at CityLab, at Cambie and West Broadway, the document in question, the Community Serving Spaces Place of Worship [pdf] presentation paper on the development of affordable housing and community service spaces on the sites of places of worship.

In an April 1, 2019 article in the Vancouver Sun / Province / PostMedia, migration, diversity and religion writer Douglas Todd asked the question, “Can Metro Vancouver churches plug the dire housing gap?”, going on to ask a second, related question, “How big a dent will re-developing scores of places of worship into housing make in a metropolis that ranks as one of the most unaffordable in the world?”, quoting Andy Yan, director of Simon Fraser University’s city programme as saying …

“Hopefully, the redevelopment (of places of worship) is one of the steps of creating a stairway to housing nirvana in Metro Vancouver. But the scale of trying to house those on local incomes affordably is almost biblical.”

Mr. Todd goes on to report that Christian and Jewish religious groups are together adding hundreds of units each year to the region’s rental and housing market, their annual contribution sometimes exceeding 1,000 new homes, a relatively small portion of the roughly 20,000 to 28,000 homes being constructed each year across Metro Vancouver, but still an invaluable contribution of low cost, affordable housing across our region.

Approved by Vancouver City Council in 2014, completed in 2018, a partnership between Central Presbyterian Church and Bosa Properties.

In collaboration with the city, Bosa Properties and Central Presbyterian Church, at 1155 Thurlow in downtown Vancouver, set about to provide 45 social housing homes that would be owned by the church, allowing Bosa Properties to build 168 secured rental homes that would be owned by Bosa, the project including the construction of a new church (and child care centre) built for the church by Bosa — at no expense to the church — and still owned by the church, the very much needed social housing homes and the child care centre creating an ongoing revenue stream for the Central Presbyterian Church. A win-win for all concerned: city, developer & church.

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The role of the city? To collaborate with the places of worship to secure funding — from private sources, from the federal or provincial governments through their affordable housing programmes, or in some cases through access to the city’s Community Amenity Contribution programme, which secures in-kind or cash contributions from property developers in exchange for re-zoning of the property — which pays for the entire cost of construction, the city liaising with the place of worship to establish a relationship with a non-profit or for-profit property developer / builder.

Further, the city expedites the development permit process.

From first contact with a place of worship to final completion & occupancy, an average of three years transpire, with the end result: the creation of affordable rental housing, low cost social housing, and much needed community serving spaces, such as the aforementioned child care centre.

The most common phrase enunciated at the Community Serving Spaces for Places of Worship forum last week was, “Robert Brown can’t do it all.”

Mr. Brown, the founder of the Catalyst Housing Development Society is the President of our province’s largest non-profit real estate developer, he and his team responsible for the development of more affordable rental homes on the Lower Mainland and across our province than any other British Columbia developer, allowing faith groups to unlock the value of their real estate assets, while reinvesting that value back into communities for the benefit of families, and a revenue creation stream for places of worship.

A key piece of altruistic advice Mr. Brown provided to faith groups at last week’s affordable housing forum: retain ownership of your property.

Here’s the bottom line: there are 364 land rich, cash poor places of worship across the Vancouver landscape. The City of Vancouver, as part of the city’s Healthy City Strategy, has set about to work with faith groups to create the conditions necessary that would result in the construction of much needed low cost, affordable housing on the under developed properties owned by faith group congregations, providing a no cost renovation or reconstruction of the aging church, synagogue or other place of worship infrastructure, while also creating a revenue stream for the faith group membership, to ensure that our city’s places of worship will continue to thrive, while serving the social and community interests of neighbourhoods across our city.

#VanPoli Civic Politics | Faith Groups + Affordable Housing | Part 3

May 15, 2019#VanPoli Civic Politics, BC Politics, Essay, News, Politics, Vancouver, Vancouver Votes 2018, VanRamblingsRaymond Tomlin

Audrey Anne Guay, powerbroker, Simon Fraser University Masters student in Urban Studies, Chairperson of the Metro Vancouver Alliance Affordable Housing Action Team, community activist, organizer, an inspiration to all who know her & hope of our future.

THE ROLE OF THE METRO VANCOUVER ALLIANCE IN WORKING WITH FAITH GROUPS TOWARDS THE PROVISION OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING ACROSS THE METRO VANCOUVER REGION

Audrey Anne Guay, 26, arising from a research grant bestowed by Simon Fraser University for the past eight months to spearhead the Metro Vancouver Alliance’s (MVA) Affordable Housing Action Team has, this past year, emerged as one of the key figures in the continuing discussion on the provision of affordable, low cost housing in the Metro Vancouver region.

The Metro Vancouver Alliance (MVA) is a broad-based alliance of 75 civil society institutions who work together for the common good, comprised of members of 60 faith groups across our region, and representatives from 15 labour unions, including the British Columbia Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU), and the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

In fact, democratic, activist grassroots MVA members (and sponsoring) organizations together represent more than 200,000 citizens across the Metro Vancouver region, and over 700,000 citizens across our province.

Here is the erudite, socially conscious and, often, emotionally trenchant Ms. Guay, in her own words, on her work with MVA and faith groups across our region who, together, are creating the conditions that will lead to the construction of affordable housing across our region …

“There’s a great deal of energy in the faith-led sector to develop land owned by places of worship across the Metro Vancouver region, for the provision of low cost, affordable housing. The research conducted by MVA has provided insight into both the motivations of the faith groups, and the challenges they face.

A secondary, but still important, focus of MVA’s Housing Team revolves around the role of Community Land Trusts, arising from the successes of MVA’s sister organization in London where as just one small but significant component of the work they’ve successfully completed, involved the construction of 23 affordable homes in one of the most expensive neighbourhoods in London. The Land Trust model, going strong in Vancouver (1500 affordable homes are now under construction in Vancouver!), is of particular interest to MVA, in that it involves community leadership in developing affordable housing solutions.”

Much of Audrey Guay’s work has involved speaking with faith leaders, who may or may not be members of the Metro Vancouver Alliance, who have indicated an interest and begun a discussion on making their sites available for the building of much needed low cost housing.

In addition, over the past year, Ms. Guay has met and had in-depth discussions with city planning staffs in municipalities across the region, City Councillors, affordable housing development staff at the Pacific regional office of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, various non-profit associations across the region, and community-oriented developers like Robert Brown’s Catalyst Community Developments Society, and Stuart Thomas, Simon Davie and Jim O’Dea, among other development staff, at Terra Housing.

Audrey Anne Guay is a name you will hear for years and years to come — a critical and necessary voice of change in a society in flux, and a splendidly energized and energizing difference maker, an undeniable presence in all of our lives, whether you are aware of her or not (and you should be!).

Want to gain an understanding of what’s going on in the faith-based and non-profit affordable housing development front? Well, then, your attendance at tonight’s Metro Vancouver Alliance Housing Forum is absolutely mandatory (and, it will be fun and informative!). Organized by MVA Executive Director Tracey Maynard and MVA Housing Leadership team leader, Audrey Anne Guay, information on the where and when of tonight’s critically important housing event may be found in the poster below.

#VanPoli Civic Politics | Faith Groups + Affordable Housing | Part 1

May 13, 2019#VanPoli Civic Politics, BC Politics, News, Politics, Vancouver, Vancouver Votes 2018Raymond Tomlin

The Oakridge Lutheran Church affordable housing development | 5688 Ash Street, west of Cambie on 41st | a 6-storey, mixed-use building, retail at street level, a new church and community space on the 2nd floor, and four levels of affordable rental housing above the church | Occupancy, Autumn 2019 | Catalyst Community Developments Society

Working with the B.C. Assessment Authority, the Community Services Division within Vancouver City Hall’s Planning Department have identified 364 places of worship in the City of Vancouver that — with the assistance and co-operation of Vancouver City Council, and the provincial and the federal governments — could become prime development sites for the provision of seniors and affordable rental housing, and a plethora of community service spaces, including child care centres and seniors centres.

On Tuesday of this past week, representatives from almost every department at Vancouver City Hall met at CityLab, on the northwest corner of Cambie and West Broadway, with representatives from across Vancouver’s religious landscape, including Baptists, Catholics, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Buddists and Mennonites, as well as a representative cross-section of members of the Jewish, Islamic, Sikh, Salvation Army, Lutheran & United Churches across our city to continue a dialogue with Vancouver’s faith groups on the redevelopment potential of their places of worship.

Located on the Burrard Peninsula, with water surrounding two-thirds of our city’s urban landscape, development potential for affordable housing and community spaces is limited by the dearth of developable land on which to provide below market housing, and community services. Since the 1960s, the development ethos in our city has been “build up”, such that skyscrapers not only dot the landscape, in areas such as the West End and northeast False Creek almost smother Vancouver, all in service of densification, long our city’s informing planning & development buzzword.

With the growing shortage of community spaces on which to provide needed community services, such as child care centres — largely due to increasingly out-of-control development pressures, leading to skyrocketing land costs and increasing income inequality — the city is turning to faith groups across Vancouver to partner with the three levels of government to help alleviate economic disparity and our city’s unaffordable housing crisis.

The City, in partnering with the faith community, is looking not only to build low-cost and below market housing on lands owned by the places of worship, but partner with faith groups, as well, in providing community gardens and food programmes, community clinics (tax, ESL), addiction workshops and support services, job training, performance spaces, active living programmes & child care centres, in the hope of fostering community.

In Tuesday’s VanRamblings we’ll discuss the issues of declining membership in our city’s places of worship, the dilemma of aging infrastructure and the dearth of funds available for physical maintenance, and the attendant and inherent consequences places of worship face in attempting to fulfil their mandate of service not just to their membership, but to the community.

In Wednesday’s instalment of this week’s faith group / affordable housing / community services series, VanRamblings will explore the role of the Metro Vancouver Alliance, which has partnered with city staff and faith groups across our region — as well as with members of Metro Vancouver’s development community — towards the provision of affordable housing.

In addition, VanRamblings will seek to provide insight into why Vancouver’s underutilized places of worship may very well emerge as a critical component in our city’s plan to build community, to address income inequality and the attendant issues of access & succour encompassing the vast majority of our city’s socially and economically beleaguered residents.