The jury is out on Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart’s new plan to permit homeowners to build up to six self-contained units of housing on a single-family lot.
When I first heard of the Mayor’s plan, I was strongly opposed. This is due to the well-known fact, very well-articulated by Professor Patrick Condon, that an increase in density does not by itself reduce the price of the end product – the housing. It simply drives up the price of the land where the housing is to be built. This results in a windfall for the landowners that does little to actually provide low-cost housing.
On January 26, Vancouver City Council had an in-depth discussion about this proposal, ultimately adding a number of amendments to the Mayor’s motion. I was very pleased to read about the amendments which added a number of safeguards that may in fact go a long way to addressing my concerns. For instance, the City of Vancouver could capture part of the lift in land value that results from the new rezoning. In addition, a purchaser of one of the new units might have to agree to a charge on the title that would require that when the homeowner resells the property, they must sell it for the price they purchased it for. Protections for existing tenants are also proposed, including that all evicted tenants be given the right of first refusal at their same or lower rent in an appropriately sized new unit.
Ultimately Council saw enough merit in the Mayor’s proposal to pass the amended motion, directing staff to develop policies and guidelines on how the plan might be implemented and to report back to Council later in 2022.
As we all know, the devil is in the details. If the Mayor’s proposal can be fleshed out with enough detail to ensure that the landowner does not receive an unearned windfall and if purchasers of the new housing permitted by the mayor’s plan can only sell down the road for the same price they bought at, then I will wholeheartedly support this plan. Otherwise, I will keep my fingers crossed that Council defeats it at the end of the staff review.
Daily atmospheric CO2 [Courtesy of CO2.Earth]
Latest daily total (Jan. 28, 2022): 418.23 ppm
One year ago (Jan. 28, 2021): 415.91 ppm
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Thanks for this. I suspect that the city still serves the developer, rather than the other way around..