Vancouver Mayor’s Task Force Housing Affordability Interim Report
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The Vancouver Mayor’s Task Force on Housing Affordability recently released its interim report. Entitled, ‘Bold Ideas Towards an Affordable City,’ the report outlines a number of new steps that the City of Vancouver can take to increase and protect the stock of affordable housing in Vancouver.
Bold Ideas Towards an Affordable City
Some key recommendations made by the Task Force include:
- Bringing a new level of strategic direction to affordable housing development in Vancouver by creating an arms-length, city-owned affordable housing authority, as is done in cities around the world;
- Making transit hubs the priority for locating major new affordable housing developments;
- Expanding creation and development of stacked townhouses and rowhomes in ‘transition zones,’ to have better neighbourhood continuity between large towers and single-family homes;
- Incentivizing all new housing built at ground level to be ‘suite ready,’ vastly increasing the potential for new secondary suites.
The Task Force set the benchmark of affordability at a range of $21,500 annual income for an individual, up to a combined annual household income of $86,500.
“The question the task force repeatedly came back to was ‘where will our children live in Vancouver?’ said Task Force co-chair Olga Ilich. “To answer it, the City needs to enable a range of housing that is broader than condominiums and single-family homes. People want choice – the opportunity to scale up if they are starting a family, and downsize as they retire. The report we’ve produced aims to cover a wide-range of needs, and I’m hopeful that City Hall will act on it to address a problem as urgent as the lack of affordable housing.”
The complete report can be found on the Task Force’s homepage or you can download the pdf directly.
Speak your Mind on the Report with PlaceSpeak
PlaceSpeak is proud to be hosting an online survey and discussion forum to allow residents of Vancouver to provide feedback on the Task Force’s recommendation
www.placespeak.com/HousingTaskForce
The Mayor’s Task Force on Housing Affordability will submit a final report to City Council in the fall that incorporates input from the re:THINK Housing Ideas Competition and public feedback.
