Metro Vancouver addresses housing crisis in 10-year plan
Credit to Author: Tiffany Crawford| Date: Sat, 09 Nov 2019 20:24:22 +0000
Metro Vancouver has a 10-year plan to help tackle the region’s housing crisis.
Under the framework, released earlier this week, the region said it will invest $190 million in affordable housing over the next decade.
Broken down, the region says $90 million will go to renewing existing housing while $100 million will be earmarked for new affordable housing.
In all, the region plans to provide 1,350 new and redeveloped units, according to the 10-year plan.
The Metro Vancouver Housing Corporation, which is owned by the regional district, is a non-profit organization that supports mixed-income communities, mainly for families, seniors, and people with special housing needs.
It has 49 sites across the region, with more than 3,400 units.
The plan outlines four goals: Support healthy, engaged communities; Preserve and renew existing housing to maintain affordability and improve sustainability and accessibility; Grow strategically through redevelopment and expansion; And develop partnerships to expand affordable rental housing across the region.
It also aims to maintain at least 30 per cent of its units as rent-geared-to-income housing, which means tenants only pay 30 per cent of their gross income, and ensure that 70 per cent are two bedrooms or more to support families.
The region is expected to continue to grow by more than 35,000 residents per year, according to Metro, with a growing demand for family housing, and more accessible homes to support an aging population.
Over the last decade, the rental vacancy in Metro Vancouver has remained very low at an average of 1.3 per cent. The report says that to meet the region’s forecasted population growth, an estimated 5,400 new rental units are needed every year, with more than 80 per cent supporting very low to moderate incomes.
ticrawford@postmedia.com