Arny Wise: Vancouver’s NDP Mayor and Council have failed to deliver affordable housing

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One would think that a left-leaning majority of Green Party activists and friends on the city council would make “affordable housing” their number one priority. It is undoubtedly the main issue that concerns Vancouver voters in the municipal elections on October 15, according to the latest Mainsteet Research poll. Eighty-two percent agree that housing in the city is unaffordable.

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But what have Mayor Kennedy Stewart and his left-leaning allies on the council done about affordable housing? In particular, we are talking about Cons. Adriane Carr, Pete Fry and Michael Wiebe, all members of the Green Party, along with Christine Boyle, and Rebecca Bligh, Sarah Kirby-Yung and Lisa Dominato of the ABC Party, directed by Ken Sim.

All of them have given profitable gifts to developers to build luxury condominiums for wealthy investors, giving away point rezonings to city developers to approve high-density buildings and more profits from developers, in exchange for cash contributions to the city’s revenue, which is called Community Service Contributions. The developer makes huge profits from 80 percent of luxury condos on the market, and city residents get only 20 percent of affordable housing units in the condominium tower.

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That’s a big deal for the developer, but a naive and financially illiterate deal for the city, community and residents of Vancouver.

The 28-acre Oakridge Park development under construction requires that only 13 percent of the 3,300 housing units be “affordable” apartments. Massive development proposals like the 90-acre Jericho lands, the 21-acre Heather lands, and the 25-acre Marpole site require only 20 percent “affordable units” in exchange for high-density, high-profit giveaways. Why not require 50 percent affordable housing for any up zoning?

Existing city policies on the city council under this NDP mayor have not produced enough affordable housing in Vancouver, the key issue for voters in this fall’s election. Housing affordability is the main issue of concern to BC Premier-in-waiting David Eby.

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How come this left leaning mayor and council have failed to offer affordable housing?

Let’s count the ways:

1. Mayor Stewart and his friends and staff at City Hall are naïve and financially inexperienced in the world of real estate finance and real estate market dynamics. Experienced and financially savvy real estate developers routinely take advantage of City Hall, who extract big rezonings, high-density favors, and high profits for peanuts. There are no guiding principles of city planning to mandate the City Council to create more affordable housing, other than the strictly mercenary of collecting more community service contributions from developers to bolster the budget.

2. The mayor and certain council members think they are at the United Nations, rather than overseeing the more mundane but essential municipal responsibilities of land use, parks, community centers, housing, water, and public safety. The mayor, and the Green Party in particular, spend our property tax revenue on pet vanity projects, like $700,000 to sue Big Oil, or $500 million on a Climate Action Plan, making pronouncements and spending money from the city ​​in areas of international interest, federal or provincial jurisdiction. This is city politics, not the United Nations.

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For these two reasons alone, this mayor and most members of the Vancouver City Council do not deserve a second chance in the October 15 election to fail again on the affordable housing record.

A change in leadership is needed to provide affordable housing for Vancouverites, and particularly young people with good jobs, such as nurses, teachers, police officers and firefighters who cannot afford to live in the city they serve. .

Arny Wise is a retired urban planner. He also spent more than 25 years as a real estate developer.


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