Mayor Kennedy Stewart told business leaders Wednesday that he plans to rezone the entire city for rental housing and only allow people on low to moderate incomes to live in the new homes.
Actually, he said nothing of the sort.
It would have made for an explosive story had he did, and most certainly made Stewart a good candidate for a witness protection program.
But in Stewart鈥檚 first address to the Greater 麻豆传媒映画Board of Trade since being elected mayor last October, he unfortunately didn't deliver any breaking news to report for regular readers.
The mayor focused his 26-minute speech at the Hotel 麻豆传媒映画exclusively and essentially how there isn鈥檛 enough of it for people who are tired of and just want to live in it. That, and if the city doesn't do something about it, "we'll end up with an elite downtown like Paris."
His words were supported by a series of PowerPoint slides showing doom-and-gloom graphs and charts on how 麻豆传媒映画is becoming a city more for the wealthy than people on low to moderate incomes.
Stewart then posed this question: 鈥淲hat do we do about this?鈥�
The first part of his response will likely be refreshing to all people trying to make a go of it in Vancouver. Whether it leads to a person on a low or moderate income spending less than 30 per cent of his or her income on housing is open to interpretation.
Anyway, the mayor鈥檚 answer began like this:
鈥淔irst of all, if we鈥檙e talking about an income-based approach to delivering housing, what we have to stop doing is using the word 鈥榓ffordable.鈥� I think that [word] really makes people angry.鈥�
I did not hear a hallelujah from the crowd of more than 300 people that included developers, union leaders, art gallery folk, the fire chief, city manager and other high flyers.
But it is a take on one of the most uttered and written words in recent 麻豆传媒映画history that I hadn鈥檛 heard under the previous administration of Gregor Robertson.
The ending of Stewart鈥檚 answer went like this:
鈥淲e鈥檝e been trying to dampen that down in council and not to say, 鈥榃e just built a whole bunch of affordable housing.鈥� We鈥檒l just say, 鈥楴o, we鈥檝e just built a whole bunch of market rental housing, and that鈥檚 good.鈥� That鈥檚 a good thing. Take ownership and say this is important because it is for a certain group of people we need for the economy [to thrive] in this city.鈥�
He went on to mention some of the incentive-based programs such as Rental 100 and the Moderate Income Rental Housing Program the city has introduced to bring some relief to what he described as a 鈥渇ull blown capitalist market.鈥�
It鈥檚 worth mentioning for context that the city鈥檚 housing strategy calls for 72,000 homes to be approved for construction by 2027. The city says nearly 50 per cent will serve households earning less than $80,000 per year.
Two-thirds will be available for renters, with 40 per cent with two or three bedrooms. Much of it is expected to be built by the private sector.
Which brings me back to this idea of creating rental-only zones across 麻豆传媒映画for low to moderate income earners, as I joked about off the top.
Actually, there is a serious question there because the provincial government last year gave municipalities the power to create rental-only zones.
Urban affairs journalist Frances Bula posed a question about that very fact to Stewart as part of a sit-down Q & A following his speech.
The mayor answered that he was worried about crashing the city鈥檚 housing market 鈥渙vernight鈥� by introducing rental-only zones.
He noted more than 90 per cent of the city鈥檚 285,000 homes are privately owned and worth more than $350 billion.
鈥淲e really have to be careful when we鈥檙e moving forward with such blunt policy instruments,鈥� he said, noting legal challenges in New Westminster over the policy.
But Stewart said rental-only zones could be possible along transit corridors.
鈥淏ut it鈥檚 worrying to put it in places that have already been up-zoned and say, 鈥楬ey, you had some options with your land and now you don鈥檛 have them.鈥欌��
Added Stewart: 鈥淛ust because we haven鈥檛 used it, it doesn鈥檛 mean that we鈥檙e not grateful and it doesn鈥檛 mean we won鈥檛 use it. We just got to be careful.鈥�
As the mayor said a few times since elected, he wants to get to a place in 麻豆传媒映画where the number one topic of conversation is not housing.
鈥淎fter we can get this thing all fixed up, we can go and talk about things that we like to talk about like music and art,鈥� said the former musician. 鈥淲e have to make sure that all folks can live in this city in a way that works for them. It鈥檚 not just from a moral point of view, it鈥檚 from an economic point of view. Our city is not going to work, the engine is going to slow down unless we get this right.鈥�
@Howellings
