The February 20 provincial budget emphasized affordable housing, particularly in Metro Vancouver. Guidelines for rentals built under a city incentive program now define that for Vancouver: affordable rent is $1,750 for a one-bedroom and $2,505 for a two-bedroom apartment.
鈥淭hose rates will likely go up next year,鈥� said听Josephine Kwan, a spokeswoman for听Spire Development, which will open a this fall in southeast 麻豆传媒映画that is part of the city鈥檚 Rental 100 program that offers incentives to rental developers.
Without incentives, the six-storey Spire building near Fraser Street and East 57th Avenue would likely have one-bedroom rents above $1,900, which online rental search service听PadMapper recently estimated was the city average, Kwan said.
Passive house is endorsed under the听City of Vancouver鈥檚 Greenest City strategy.
Pete Rackow, co-founder of Spire Development, said passive-house construction costs are higher than those of a traditional building.
鈥淗owever, the final product is much superior in terms of air quality, noise reduction and carbon footprint,鈥� he said. 鈥淲ith the city鈥檚 support, we now have the perfect opportunity to revolutionize the rental experience for Vancouverites, especially given our current housing crunch.鈥澨�
听
Frank O'Brien is the editor of
