Burnaby鈥檚 new rental policies have been met with mixed reviews 鈥� enthusiastic approval from councillors, muted praise from a housing activist and disappointment from a landlord advocate.
On Monday, city council unanimously approved a plan to put new rental zoning powers to work.
includes rezoning existing rental apartments to protect them from development; requiring developers to replace demolished apartments and rehouse displaced tenants; and demanding that one in five units in new developments be purpose-built rental.聽
"This is a very bold step in addressing the rental housing crisis," Coun. Pietro Calendino said at Monday鈥檚 council meeting.
The sentiment was echoed by Calendino鈥檚 council colleagues, including Coun. Joe Keithley who said the move affirmed 鈥渢hat housing is a right and not a privilege.鈥�
Landlord advocate sees problems
But not everyone was equally impressed.聽
鈥淚 think there's really quite a few problems here,鈥� said David Hutniak, CEO of LandlordBC.
The landlord advocate said he likes a provision in Burnaby鈥檚 rental-zoning plan allowing rental zoning additions to commercial and mixed-use developments and he supports a robust tenant relocation policy.
But, Hutniak said, the plan will not lead to the creation of new rental housing.聽
鈥淭he numbers just aren't going to work,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou start out with what looks like, on the surface, some sort of a progressive policy 鈥� but if it's structured on such a basis that the economics just don't work, that means that nothing is going to to get built.鈥�
He said using 鈥渋nclusionary zoning鈥� to require 20 per cent rental housing in new buildings will do little to recoup the hundreds of rental apartments destroyed by developers in Burnaby in recent years.聽
鈥淭o get a couple thousand rental units 鈥� which is just a drop in the bucket for what Burnaby needs 鈥� that means we need to build 10,000 condo units,鈥� Hutniak said.
Burnaby would do better to follow Vancouver鈥檚 lead by offering incentives to developers to build 100-per-cent rental developments, he said.聽 聽
Mayor inherrited sinking ship: activist
Murray Martin, a spokesperson for Burnaby ACORN who led many demoviction protests and now sits on the city鈥檚 housing task force, offered faint support for the city鈥檚 rental zoning plan.聽
鈥淭his would have been a good start if they did this in 2011,鈥� he said.
Mayor Mike Hurley inherited a housing crisis that can largely be blamed on his predecessor, Derek Corrigan, according to Martin. The activist said the former mayor deserves little credit, despite initiating the creation of rental zoning bylaws months before the 2018 election.
鈥淐orrigan was on the Titanic. He hit the iceberg and he jumped overboard on a lifeboat and took off and told (Hurley), 鈥楬ey you might want to consider these plans.鈥� And Hurley is at the helm of the Titanic and he's just trying to seal the leak,鈥� Martin said, referring to the city鈥檚 stock of rental housing being lost to demovictions. 鈥淪o who knows when they're going to get to New York.鈥澛�
Martin brushed aside Hutniak鈥檚 assertion that the inclusionary zoning provisions would make building new rental housing untenable for developers.聽
鈥淭his is what businesses always say when there's any conditions put on them,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t's their job to maximize their profits, so anything that impinges on profit-making, they're going to yell and scream. And then the case is, 90 times out of 100, is that they were hysterical for no reason.鈥�
