With a “critical” housing situation, Richmond council is pushing for even more affordable housing.
In December, the planning committee asked staff to bring back ideas on expanding beyond the city's current requirement for 10 per cent affordable housing in new developments, something supported by all five councillors on the committee.
Coun. Carol Day said that she doesn’t want to “kill the real estate market,” but she thinks it can tolerate more affordable housing.
“When it’s this lucrative, why not?” she told the Richmond News.
She pointed out that vacancy rates are at “critical” levels.
“We can pretty much call the shots because so many people want to build here,” Day said.
She said she’d like to see one-fifth of units dedicated as affordable housing in new developments.
“I’d like to look at 20 per cent – if that’s doable, I’d be very happy,” she said.
Recently, Richmond housing advocate John Roston was pushing for more affordable housing at Lansdowne – he would like it to be 100 per cent rental when it's redeveloped (owner Vanprop plans to build 4,000 units of housing at the 50-acre shopping mall).
Day said that would be great in a “perfect world.”
“One hundred per cent would be like winning the lottery, but I don’t think we’ll get that,” Day said.
The motion to look at more affordable housing was put forward by Day in the Dec. 17 planning meeting. The councillors were under the impression staff was already writing a report on the subject, but a formal referral had never been made.
“I’ve never had anything passed so fast,” Day said about her motion.
The motion came up in the context of a development that is working its way through the rezoning and development permit process, and Couns. Linda McPhail and Alexa Loo opposed a motion to ask the developer to increase the affordable housing portion for this project. McPhail told the Richmond News that because it’s been in progress for already two years and it meets the current affordable housing policy, it should be changed mid-stream.
She added that when policy have been revised, in-stream applications have been grandfathered.
The application is for three properties on Minoru Boulevard just south of Lansdowne Road. It is being rezoned from industrial/retail to residential/limited commercial.
* A previous story stated that only Couns. Day, McNulty and Steves voted for the motion to have staff look at higher levels of affordable housing in new developments. In fact, the minutes of the planning meeting were corrected to show that all five councillors on the committee voted for this motion.
