Housing
Vancouver has consistently been ranked as one of the most livable cities in North America. Part of that is because of the quality of its green spaces, its extensive public transportation system, and the attractiveness of downtown living in high-rise residential towers [1]. Vancouver is often cited as one of the models for sustainable urban development, and the city aims to become the “greenest city in the world” in 2020 through its Greenest City 2020 Action Plan [2]. Although Vancouver has a reputation as an ideal metropolitan center, it still faces many issues that present challenges to its quality of life and livability. Some of the most prominent issues that the city faces today include housing affordability and increase in homelessness.
Current Issues
Vancouver today is known for its high-rise residential towers in its downtown area, but that are many aspects of housing in Vancouver that are not readily visible from the gleaming image of its high-rise skyline. The City of Vancouver has recently been ranked as having the second least affordable housing market in the world [3]. The report calculates housing affordability by measuring the median home price and comparing it with the median income within the city. In the most recent report, Vancouver reported a record-high of a median home price to median income ratio of 10.6, meaning that the median home price of $704,800 was 10.6 times the median income of $66,400 in 2014. In comparison, Toronto reported a median home price that was 6.5 times higher than median income, and Canada overall reported home prices that were 3.9 times higher than median income [3]. Areas that had a ratio above a 3.0 were considered unaffordable, above 4.1 to be seriously unaffordable, and above a 5.1 to be severely unaffordable [4].
Housing affordability is an issue because the lack of affordability implies increased economic hardship for more financially vulnerable populations. Should the Bank of Canada increase mortgage rates by 2%, economists predict that that the percentage of residents who spend 30% of their income on housing will increase from 16% to 20% in Toronto [3]. The percentage of residents spending more than 30% of their income on housing is already more than 40% in Vancouver [3]. The consequences of high rent or mortgage payments are that less affluent residents will have to make increasing trade-offs between making housing payments and spending on other living expenses. More immediately severe consequences of the lack of affordable housing include overcrowding of low-income housing, increased public health issues, increased crime, and of course, homelessness.
In the City of Vancouver’s most recent housing strategy document, the city reports that the homeless rate had nearly tripled over the past decade [5]. In another report that surveyed the homeless population in 2014, the three most cited barriers to finding a home were low income, high rent, and addiction [6]. Not only that, but the availability and variety of affordable housing are limited too. Low-cost rental units are in short supply, and current rental units rarely advertise vacancy. Single room occupancy (SRO) hotels form the majority of the housing stock for the low-income population in Vancouver, and economic analysis show that the rental market is unlikely to improve without incentives for investors to construct new units [6].
Housing affordability is an issue for both the low-income and middle-income population in Vancouver, as increasingly even more middle-income households struggle to make rent or mortgage payments, or face the possibility of losing their home. The issues of affordable housing, homelessness, and housing security in Vancouver are complex, and its origins varied. Nonetheless, many reports cite negligence on part of the regional and federal government in maintaining policies that could have mitigated the housing problem early on.
Housing Policies in the Late 20th Century
Homelessness is a comparatively recent social problem in Canada, having only begun during the 1980s [7]. There were homeless people before then, of course, and factors that contributed to homelessness, such as poverty, unemployment, health problems, etc, also existed. However, for the most part, the government was able to focus its policy such that it was able to provide enough units of safe, affordable housing for those in need. In fact, in the period following WWII, the Canadian federal government increased investments in social housing, government-insured mortgages, and housing subsidies for rental units [7]. Amendments to the 1973 National Housing Act led to more than 500,000 more homes for low- and moderate-income households, and provided additional guarantees to financial institutions to promote the construction of affordable housing [8]. The Canadian government demonstrated a strong commitment to affordable housing through key programs that made housing more accessible and affordable for many people.
In the 1980s, however, the state’s housing policy experienced significant change. As the decade progressed into the 1990s, previous national programs that had provided for affordable housing either had their budget cut, or were downgraded to provincial or municipal programs [8]. In 1993, the government cancelled funding for any new affordable housing to be built under the National Housing Act. In 1996, all housing programs were delegated to provinces to operate, leaving the state with no national programs or entities devoted to affordable housing. The drastic change in government action is evidenced by how in 1982, the number of government-funded new social housing units numbered 20,450, but by 1995, the number was a mere 1000 [7].
Coupled with this housing climate, the City of Vancouver’s own housing policy proved inadequate in providing much needed affordable housing units for the low- and moderate- income population of the city. Having rezoned its downtown district to allow for high-rise commercial and residential buildings, Vancouver experienced a boom in its downtown inner city development [9]. Much of these developments, however, turn out to be out of reach for much of the city’s less affluent population. In 1991, the city adopted a Central Area Plan that aimed to revitalize the inner city [10]. The strategy called for increased housing density, building coherent neighborhoods, and rezoning the area to privilege the development of residential units. The plan was a huge success in what it wanted to achieve--the population of residents living in downtown increased from 40,000 to 80,000 [11]. Amenities flowed into the area to service the increased downtown population. Coupled with the city’s emphasis--and success--in preserving green space for parks and recreation, Vancouver gained world recognition for its urban planning success [12]. While the Living First Strategy was a significant milestone for the implementation of sustainable , high-density development, it also neglects to address important socio-economic issues of its low-income population who cannot afford to purchase units in the gentrified, revitalized inner city. As low-income residents get pushed out of redevelopment areas, increasingly they have to look for low-cost housing elsewhere. One can look to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside to note its high incidence of poverty, crime, and urban decay [6].
As Vancouver’s housing market became more and more concentrated in downtown development, the property values of these development continued to grow. The globalization process in the 1970s and on brought in foreign investors and affluent immigrants, especially from Asia, to invest in condominiums in the downtown district [12]. Foreign speculation and trading resulted in soaring housing prices for the region as a whole, and the real estate market boomed. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the government-owned housing corporation that had played a lead role in the nation’s affordable housing programs in the decades after WWII, in recent decades instead generated profits of hundred and millions of dollars from its diminished role in providing for affordable housing [8]. As a result of the funding cuts to national housing programs, as well as relaxed provisions about providing affordable housing, the current housing market in Vancouver is such that there is little private incentive to build affordable rental units rather than the more profitable luxury condos catering to foreign investors. Affordable housing is an issue in Vancouver in that there are not enough subsidized housing units available for those who need them, and that the housing market in the region have priced out the less affluent from its downtown region.
Current Policy and Goals
Vancouver currently has a 10-year housing and homeless strategy that aims to eliminate street homelessness by 2015 [5]. Its three main strategies are:
1. increase the supply of affordable housing
2. encourage a housing mix across neighborhoods
3. provide strong leadership and support partners to enhance housing stability.
The city plans to achieve these goals through increasing shelter capacity to meet the needs of street homeless, optimizing the City’s resources to support housing partnerships, increasing the diversity of rental stock available, and targeting social housing towards neighborhoods with the most need [5]. The benchmark goals for 2021 include:
1. 2,900 new supportive housing units
2. 5000 additional new housing units
3. 11,000 new market rental housing units
4. 20,000 market ownership units.
In addition to the Housing and Homeless Strategy for 2012-2021, the city had also implemented other measures to end homelessness and increase affordable housing. The Short-Term Incentives for Rental (STIR) program ran from 2009 to 2011 and provided incentives for developers to construct more purpose built rental units. Incentives included waiving development costs for rental units, reducing parking requirements, introducing more flexibility in determining unit size, and faster permit processing time [5]. The STIR program produced moderate success. It did encourage more rental units to be built, but the program can be further refined by making sure STIR projects fit into the neighborhood contexts. The City also funded the renovation of supportive housing units and launched the Urban Health Initiative, which focused on providing primary care in shelters, training shelter staff, and increasing food security [5].
Nationally, Canada enacted the National Homelessness Initiative in an effort to curb street homelessness [8]. It funded transitional housing and aimed at providing shelter, food security, and a range of other services to the homeless. In 2001 and 2005, the federal Parliament committed $1 billion and $1.6 billion, respectively, in affordable housing funding. Other recent policies that had been enacted are the Affordable Housing Initiative, which ran from 2001 to 2011, and the Affordable Housing Framework, which ran from 2011 to 2014 [8]. However, the federal government is still being criticized for lacking a national housing strategy that would align federal, provincial, and municipal goals for affordable housing in Canada. The hands-off approach of the federal government have led to a series of one-time, short term funding for homeless and affordable housing initiatives, which were described as a “fraying patchwork” of a system to address poverty and housing issues [8]. Nonetheless, housing affordability and homelessness have come to national attention, and in February 2012, a detailed plan to create a national homeless strategy had been proposed in Parliament. The bill, C-400, titled the Secure, Adequate, Accessible and Affordable Housing Act, did not pass, but indicates a recognition of a need for a national call for affordable housing [8].
Conclusion
Vancouver is known for its dense, urban, high-rise, mixed-use neighborhoods. While it’s ranked as one of the most livable cities in the world, it is also one of the most unaffordable. The downtown high-rise developments that the city is known for is not accessible for the city’s low- and middle-income residents. Instead, property prices have skyrocketed through foreign speculation and investment, and affordable housing options for those priced out of the residential towers do not sufficient meet demand. Federal policy to withdraw funds and transfer administration of affordable housing initiatives to provincial and municipal governments severely weakened the nation’s affordable housing support system. The culmination of the lack of federal support as well as the neglect on the part of urban planners resulted in the shortage of rental units, shelter space, supportive housing units, and other such affordable housing options. Starting in the late 1990s and early 2000s, however, the city and federal government enacted more programs to combat homelessness and encourage development of more affordable housing units. The results are still to be determined. The intersecting issues of housing, homelessness, and urban policy will continue to play out in Vancouver’s diverse urban landscape.
References
1. Vancouver the most livable city in North America (2015, February 15) Retrieved February 25, 2015, from The Huffington Post B.C. website: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/08/28/vancouver-most-livable-city-economist_n_3830039.html
2. Greenest city 2020 action plan. (2012). Vancouver, BC, Canada: City of Vancouver.
3. Posadzki, A. (2015, January 20). Vancouver has 2nd least affordable housing market in the world. Global News. Retrieved from http://globalnews.ca/news/1783522/vancouver-has-2nd-least-affordable-housing-market-in-the-world/
4. Cox, W., & Pavletich, H. (2015). 11th annual Demographia international housing affordability survey: 2015. St. Louis, MO: Demographia.
5.Vancouver's housing and homelessness strategy 2012-2021. (2011, June). Retrieved from http://vancouver.ca/files/cov/Housing-and-Homeless-Strategy-2012-2021pdf.pdf
6. Results of the 2014 homeless count in the Metro Vancouver region. (2014, July). Vancouver, BC, Canada: Greater Vancouver Regional Steering Committee on Homelessness.
7. Gaetz, S. (2010). The struggle to end homelessness in Canada: how we created the crisis, and how we can end it. The Open Health Services and Policy Journal, 3, 21-26. Retrieved from http://homeless.samhsa.gov/ResourceFiles/rjhmnzr4.pdf
8. Kothari, M. (2007, October). Report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context. Retrieved from http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/10session/A.HRC.10.7.Add.3.pdf
9. Ehrenhalt, A. (2008). Vancouver promotes inner-city housing to create a vibrant downtown. In R. Kemp (Ed.), Cities and growth: a policy handbook (pp. 242-247). Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company.
10. Vancouver's "living first" strategy. (2006, November 9). Retrieved February 25, 2015, from Congress for the New Urbanism website: http://www.cnu.org/resources/projects/ vancouver%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Cliving-first%E2%80%9D-strategy-2006
11. Baker, L. (2007, January 17). The zoning policy that worked too well. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/17/realestate/commercial/17vancouver.html?pagewanted=all
12.Harris, D. C. (2011). Condominium and the city: the rise of property in Vancouver. Law & Social Inquiry, 36(3), 694-326.
Vancouver has consistently been ranked as one of the most livable cities in North America. Part of that is because of the quality of its green spaces, its extensive public transportation system, and the attractiveness of downtown living in high-rise residential towers [1]. Vancouver is often cited as one of the models for sustainable urban development, and the city aims to become the “greenest city in the world” in 2020 through its Greenest City 2020 Action Plan [2]. Although Vancouver has a reputation as an ideal metropolitan center, it still faces many issues that present challenges to its quality of life and livability. Some of the most prominent issues that the city faces today include housing affordability and increase in homelessness.
High-rise residential towers line the skyline in Vancouver
http://www.urbancincy.com/2012/01/vancouver%E2%80%99s-approach-to-urbanism-serves-as-north-american-model/
Current Issues
Vancouver today is known for its high-rise residential towers in its downtown area, but that are many aspects of housing in Vancouver that are not readily visible from the gleaming image of its high-rise skyline. The City of Vancouver has recently been ranked as having the second least affordable housing market in the world [3]. The report calculates housing affordability by measuring the median home price and comparing it with the median income within the city. In the most recent report, Vancouver reported a record-high of a median home price to median income ratio of 10.6, meaning that the median home price of $704,800 was 10.6 times the median income of $66,400 in 2014. In comparison, Toronto reported a median home price that was 6.5 times higher than median income, and Canada overall reported home prices that were 3.9 times higher than median income [3]. Areas that had a ratio above a 3.0 were considered unaffordable, above 4.1 to be seriously unaffordable, and above a 5.1 to be severely unaffordable [4].
Housing trends in Canada over the last decade.
http://www.demographia.com/dhi.pdf
Housing affordability is an issue because the lack of affordability implies increased economic hardship for more financially vulnerable populations. Should the Bank of Canada increase mortgage rates by 2%, economists predict that that the percentage of residents who spend 30% of their income on housing will increase from 16% to 20% in Toronto [3]. The percentage of residents spending more than 30% of their income on housing is already more than 40% in Vancouver [3]. The consequences of high rent or mortgage payments are that less affluent residents will have to make increasing trade-offs between making housing payments and spending on other living expenses. More immediately severe consequences of the lack of affordable housing include overcrowding of low-income housing, increased public health issues, increased crime, and of course, homelessness.
In the City of Vancouver’s most recent housing strategy document, the city reports that the homeless rate had nearly tripled over the past decade [5]. In another report that surveyed the homeless population in 2014, the three most cited barriers to finding a home were low income, high rent, and addiction [6]. Not only that, but the availability and variety of affordable housing are limited too. Low-cost rental units are in short supply, and current rental units rarely advertise vacancy. Single room occupancy (SRO) hotels form the majority of the housing stock for the low-income population in Vancouver, and economic analysis show that the rental market is unlikely to improve without incentives for investors to construct new units [6].
Housing affordability is an issue for both the low-income and middle-income population in Vancouver, as increasingly even more middle-income households struggle to make rent or mortgage payments, or face the possibility of losing their home. The issues of affordable housing, homelessness, and housing security in Vancouver are complex, and its origins varied. Nonetheless, many reports cite negligence on part of the regional and federal government in maintaining policies that could have mitigated the housing problem early on.
Housing Policies in the Late 20th Century
Homelessness is a comparatively recent social problem in Canada, having only begun during the 1980s [7]. There were homeless people before then, of course, and factors that contributed to homelessness, such as poverty, unemployment, health problems, etc, also existed. However, for the most part, the government was able to focus its policy such that it was able to provide enough units of safe, affordable housing for those in need. In fact, in the period following WWII, the Canadian federal government increased investments in social housing, government-insured mortgages, and housing subsidies for rental units [7]. Amendments to the 1973 National Housing Act led to more than 500,000 more homes for low- and moderate-income households, and provided additional guarantees to financial institutions to promote the construction of affordable housing [8]. The Canadian government demonstrated a strong commitment to affordable housing through key programs that made housing more accessible and affordable for many people.
In the 1980s, however, the state’s housing policy experienced significant change. As the decade progressed into the 1990s, previous national programs that had provided for affordable housing either had their budget cut, or were downgraded to provincial or municipal programs [8]. In 1993, the government cancelled funding for any new affordable housing to be built under the National Housing Act. In 1996, all housing programs were delegated to provinces to operate, leaving the state with no national programs or entities devoted to affordable housing. The drastic change in government action is evidenced by how in 1982, the number of government-funded new social housing units numbered 20,450, but by 1995, the number was a mere 1000 [7].
Coupled with this housing climate, the City of Vancouver’s own housing policy proved inadequate in providing much needed affordable housing units for the low- and moderate- income population of the city. Having rezoned its downtown district to allow for high-rise commercial and residential buildings, Vancouver experienced a boom in its downtown inner city development [9]. Much of these developments, however, turn out to be out of reach for much of the city’s less affluent population. In 1991, the city adopted a Central Area Plan that aimed to revitalize the inner city [10]. The strategy called for increased housing density, building coherent neighborhoods, and rezoning the area to privilege the development of residential units. The plan was a huge success in what it wanted to achieve--the population of residents living in downtown increased from 40,000 to 80,000 [11]. Amenities flowed into the area to service the increased downtown population. Coupled with the city’s emphasis--and success--in preserving green space for parks and recreation, Vancouver gained world recognition for its urban planning success [12]. While the Living First Strategy was a significant milestone for the implementation of sustainable , high-density development, it also neglects to address important socio-economic issues of its low-income population who cannot afford to purchase units in the gentrified, revitalized inner city. As low-income residents get pushed out of redevelopment areas, increasingly they have to look for low-cost housing elsewhere. One can look to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside to note its high incidence of poverty, crime, and urban decay [6].
As Vancouver’s housing market became more and more concentrated in downtown development, the property values of these development continued to grow. The globalization process in the 1970s and on brought in foreign investors and affluent immigrants, especially from Asia, to invest in condominiums in the downtown district [12]. Foreign speculation and trading resulted in soaring housing prices for the region as a whole, and the real estate market boomed. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the government-owned housing corporation that had played a lead role in the nation’s affordable housing programs in the decades after WWII, in recent decades instead generated profits of hundred and millions of dollars from its diminished role in providing for affordable housing [8]. As a result of the funding cuts to national housing programs, as well as relaxed provisions about providing affordable housing, the current housing market in Vancouver is such that there is little private incentive to build affordable rental units rather than the more profitable luxury condos catering to foreign investors. Affordable housing is an issue in Vancouver in that there are not enough subsidized housing units available for those who need them, and that the housing market in the region have priced out the less affluent from its downtown region.
Current Policy and Goals
Vancouver currently has a 10-year housing and homeless strategy that aims to eliminate street homelessness by 2015 [5]. Its three main strategies are:
1. increase the supply of affordable housing
2. encourage a housing mix across neighborhoods
3. provide strong leadership and support partners to enhance housing stability.
The city plans to achieve these goals through increasing shelter capacity to meet the needs of street homeless, optimizing the City’s resources to support housing partnerships, increasing the diversity of rental stock available, and targeting social housing towards neighborhoods with the most need [5]. The benchmark goals for 2021 include:
1. 2,900 new supportive housing units
2. 5000 additional new housing units
3. 11,000 new market rental housing units
4. 20,000 market ownership units.
In addition to the Housing and Homeless Strategy for 2012-2021, the city had also implemented other measures to end homelessness and increase affordable housing. The Short-Term Incentives for Rental (STIR) program ran from 2009 to 2011 and provided incentives for developers to construct more purpose built rental units. Incentives included waiving development costs for rental units, reducing parking requirements, introducing more flexibility in determining unit size, and faster permit processing time [5]. The STIR program produced moderate success. It did encourage more rental units to be built, but the program can be further refined by making sure STIR projects fit into the neighborhood contexts. The City also funded the renovation of supportive housing units and launched the Urban Health Initiative, which focused on providing primary care in shelters, training shelter staff, and increasing food security [5].
The number of homeless in Vancouver have almost tripled.
City of Vancouver Housing and Homeless Strategy 2012-2021.
http://vancouver.ca/files/cov/Housing-and-Homeless-Strategy-2012-2021pdf.pdf
Conclusion
Vancouver is known for its dense, urban, high-rise, mixed-use neighborhoods. While it’s ranked as one of the most livable cities in the world, it is also one of the most unaffordable. The downtown high-rise developments that the city is known for is not accessible for the city’s low- and middle-income residents. Instead, property prices have skyrocketed through foreign speculation and investment, and affordable housing options for those priced out of the residential towers do not sufficient meet demand. Federal policy to withdraw funds and transfer administration of affordable housing initiatives to provincial and municipal governments severely weakened the nation’s affordable housing support system. The culmination of the lack of federal support as well as the neglect on the part of urban planners resulted in the shortage of rental units, shelter space, supportive housing units, and other such affordable housing options. Starting in the late 1990s and early 2000s, however, the city and federal government enacted more programs to combat homelessness and encourage development of more affordable housing units. The results are still to be determined. The intersecting issues of housing, homelessness, and urban policy will continue to play out in Vancouver’s diverse urban landscape.
References
1. Vancouver the most livable city in North America (2015, February 15) Retrieved February 25, 2015, from The Huffington Post B.C. website: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/08/28/vancouver-most-livable-city-economist_n_3830039.html
2. Greenest city 2020 action plan. (2012). Vancouver, BC, Canada: City of Vancouver.
3. Posadzki, A. (2015, January 20). Vancouver has 2nd least affordable housing market in the world. Global News. Retrieved from http://globalnews.ca/news/1783522/vancouver-has-2nd-least-affordable-housing-market-in-the-world/
4. Cox, W., & Pavletich, H. (2015). 11th annual Demographia international housing affordability survey: 2015. St. Louis, MO: Demographia.
5.Vancouver's housing and homelessness strategy 2012-2021. (2011, June). Retrieved from http://vancouver.ca/files/cov/Housing-and-Homeless-Strategy-2012-2021pdf.pdf
6. Results of the 2014 homeless count in the Metro Vancouver region. (2014, July). Vancouver, BC, Canada: Greater Vancouver Regional Steering Committee on Homelessness.
7. Gaetz, S. (2010). The struggle to end homelessness in Canada: how we created the crisis, and how we can end it. The Open Health Services and Policy Journal, 3, 21-26. Retrieved from http://homeless.samhsa.gov/ResourceFiles/rjhmnzr4.pdf
8. Kothari, M. (2007, October). Report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context. Retrieved from http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/10session/A.HRC.10.7.Add.3.pdf
9. Ehrenhalt, A. (2008). Vancouver promotes inner-city housing to create a vibrant downtown. In R. Kemp (Ed.), Cities and growth: a policy handbook (pp. 242-247). Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company.
10. Vancouver's "living first" strategy. (2006, November 9). Retrieved February 25, 2015, from Congress for the New Urbanism website: http://www.cnu.org/resources/projects/ vancouver%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Cliving-first%E2%80%9D-strategy-2006
11. Baker, L. (2007, January 17). The zoning policy that worked too well. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/17/realestate/commercial/17vancouver.html?pagewanted=all
12.Harris, D. C. (2011). Condominium and the city: the rise of property in Vancouver. Law & Social Inquiry, 36(3), 694-326.
No comments:
Post a Comment