Kathryn Wilder counts herself lucky when it comes to finding affordable housing in Vancouver. But it was only by chance. In late 2016, she and her daughter were helping her ex-husband, a senior citizen, find a place to live after he was released from a month-and-a-half-long stay in hospital. He had few resources, wasn鈥檛 aware of options, wasn鈥檛 comfortable using a computer, and had nowhere to go.
During the search, they came across Brightside Community Homes Foundation, a 麻豆传媒映画non-profit affordable housing society that owns and operates 27 buildings, which provide 950 homes to more than 1,000 seniors, families and people with disabilities. Applicants qualify through income testing.
The society accepted Wilder鈥檚 ex-husband into one of its buildings, although he died not long after moving in. Wilder, now 74, also applied for housing through Brightside on the advice of her daughter.
She was paying $1,900 a month for a West End apartment she鈥檇 lived in for 25 years, which she wouldn鈥檛 be able to afford much longer due to her limited income, especially with annual rent increases.
Wilder鈥檚 application was also accepted and, for the past year, she鈥檚 lived in a Brightside building in South Granville. 听She describes her apartment as a 鈥済ift鈥� and compares it to winning the lotto.
鈥淚t enables me to live,鈥� she said.
Wilder hopes others suffering through the affordability crisis find homes too.
She鈥檒l be speaking about her housing experience at an Oct. 9 event Brightside is hosting at the 麻豆传媒映画Public Library.
Called, 鈥淵IMBYism: A solution to Vancouver鈥檚 Affordable Housing Crisis,鈥� its objective is to bring people from diverse backgrounds 鈥� housing experts, residents and other interest groups 鈥� into one room to discuss housing 鈥渃hallenges and innovative solutions.鈥�
During her talk, Wilder hopes to shed light on how tough it was for her and her ex-husband to find affordable homes.
鈥淚鈥檓 one of the lucky ones. Trust me, I know how lucky I am that I鈥檓 now in a place I can afford because I don鈥檛 know what I would have done. I really don鈥檛 know where I would have gone,鈥� she said.
鈥淚 was born in North Vancouver, but I鈥檝e lived in 麻豆传媒映画for the last 40 years. This is my home, but I wouldn鈥檛 have been able to stay here. And I鈥檓 only one of, who knows, thousands I鈥檓 sure.鈥�
Collective approach
Carolina Ibarra, Brightside鈥檚 director of strategic initiatives and special projects, maintains the city needs to take a collective approach to dealing with the housing affordability problem.
鈥淲e need to adopt a YIMBYism approach, which means 鈥榊es in my backyard鈥� if we鈥檙e to provide affordable housing for people of all income levels and all ages,鈥� she said.
Ibarra said Brightside, as an affordable housing provider, is in a unique position to foster that approach because the society deals with many of those involved in the housing field, including residents, landlords and community-based organizations.
鈥淲e hear different parts of the story but I don鈥檛 know if the city as a whole is looking at the issue through the eyes of every stakeholder," she said. "We really think we need to take a collective and comprehensive approach to how we look at addressing the affordable housing issue.鈥�
Aside from Wilder, speakers at the Oct. 9 forum include representatives from the United Church and the Community Land Trust Foundation of B.C., while panelists include LandlordBC鈥檚 David Hutniak, Jill Atkey of the BC Non-profit Housing Association, West End MLA Spencer Chandra Herbert, Kira Gerwing from Vancity Credit Union and Robert Brown of Catalyst Community Developments.
Ibarra said the idea is to open up the conversation so everyone involved in the debate has the same access to information and understands all the shades of the issue.
鈥淏rightside thinks we need to, as a city, look and acknowledge the different challenges faced so we can come together and solve this issue. This is going to also help create more support from the entire city,鈥� she said, adding both short- and long-term solutions are needed.
鈥淭he temporary modular housing is great. It鈥檚 responding to a crisis, an immediate need, but it鈥檚 not a long-term solution. Long term is key. We need to facilitate and incentivise the building of affordable family rental units because they are notoriously difficult to make financially viable. Incentives to build are very important.鈥�
While she said it鈥檚 important to protect the existing affordable rental stock, the reality is much of it is old and not in very good shape.
As a result, according to Ibarra, there needs to be room to redevelop, increase density and create homes appropriate for people such as seniors, while also figuring out how to temporarily relocate displaced tenants while adequate buildings are constructed.
Supply remains an issue, she said, because very little affordable rental housing has been built over the past decade.
Although more below-market units have been delivered recently, and more are in the pipeline, Ibarra said there are still not enough to address the needs of seniors, families and people with disabilities.
She said reducing permit times or permit fees, for instance, might make affordable housing projects more financially viable and, as a result, help keep rents down.
Ultimately, Ibarra said affordable housing solutions can be reached through education and dialogue, and the Brightside event will give community-based organizations and individual renters an opportunity to hear from people they might not otherwise be exposed to such as Hutniak and Atkey.
鈥淭here鈥檚 such a lot of people who honestly want an improvement for the entire community and that鈥檚 a really good start. That鈥檚 a really good base. Will people disagree? Absolutely. This issue and the solutions are not going to be black and white. There is not going to be one single solution. There鈥檚 going to be compromise,鈥� she said.
鈥淭he neighbourhoods, some of them, will inevitably change in one way or the other because that鈥檚 what happens with time. But it is important to be respectful of communities and to make sure that change enhances the communities. I think that鈥檚 possible. We think that鈥檚 possible. That鈥檚 why we want to bring everybody together to start the discussion in that way.鈥�
For her part, Wilder hopes to see more affordable housing in the near future.
鈥淚 hope we stop passing the buck and we start doing something,鈥� she said.
Brightside鈥檚 Oct. 9 event runs from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at VPL鈥檚 Alice Mackay Room. It鈥檚 free and open to the public. Registration is required. More information can be found
After the forum, participants will be asked for feedback on what they would like to see focused on in terms of finding housing solutions. The feedback will be summarized and made public.
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